‘Umbrella Revolution’: Hong Kong leader says Beijing won’t back down

Hong Kong's chief executive said that mainland communist leaders will not reverse their decision requiring a pro-Beijing panel to screen candidates in the territory’s first direct elections, scheduled for 2017.

Protesters erect barricades in Hong Kong’s Central district on day three of their campaign yesterday. Alex Hofford / EPA

HONG KONG // China will not reverse its decision to limit voting reforms in Hong Kong, the territory’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

A defiant Leung Chun-ying also said he would not stand down, despite a Wednesday deadline set by protesters demanding more democracy and his resignation.

As pro-democracy protests entered a fifth day, Occupy Central, the main protest group, warned of “new civil disobedience plans”.

Mr Leung, a Beijing appointee who is deeply mistrusted in Hong Kong, said mainland communist leaders would not reverse their August decision to screen candidates in the territory’s first direct elections in 2017.

His refusal to budge is no surprise. Showing a willingness to talk would have made the Chinese leadership in Beijing appear weak, which could embolden dissidents and separatists on the mainland.

Despite Mr Leung’s calls for protesters to disperse, thousands of people – many of them university and high school students – gathered on a six-lane motorway next to the local government headquarters.

The chief demand of the protesters is that they do not want Beijing to screen nominees for Hong Kong’s leadership elections. They accuse the central government of reneging on a promise that the chief executive would eventually be chosen through universal suffrage.

“The people on the streets are here because we’ve made the decision ourselves and we will only leave when we have achieved something,” said Chloe Cheung, 20, a student at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

“We are waiting for the government to respond to our demands for democracy and a say in what the elections will be like.”

Student leaders planned to make their own announcement Tuesday about further plans and demands.

Even larger crowds are expected to flood the streets on Wednesday – China’s National Day holiday. The government cancelled a fireworks display to mark the day.

On Sunday, police shocked the city by firing tear gas at crowds, but protesters passed a peaceful night on Monday singing as they blocked streets in several parts of Hong Kong. Crowds chanted calls for Mr Leung to resign, and sang anthems calling for freedom.

Police fired 87 rounds of tear gas on Sunday in what they called a necessary but restrained response to protesters pushing through cordons and barricades. Forty-one people were injured, including 12 police officers.

“Police cordon lines were heavily charged by some violent protesters. So police had to use the minimum force in order to separate the distance at that moment between the protesters and also the police,” said Cheung Tak-keung, the assistant police commissioner for operations.

Schools in some districts of Hong Kong remained closed on Tuesday because of safety concerns, while dozens of bus routes were cancelled and some subway stops near protest areas were shut.

The protests have been dubbed the Umbrella Revolution by some, because the crowds have used umbrellas to block the sun and to deflect pepper spray used by security officers. Political slogans calling for freedom have also been written on the umbrellas.

Many younger Hong Kong residents raised in an era of plenty and with no experience of past political turmoil in mainland China have higher expectations.

Under an agreement set in 1984, before most of them were born, Beijing promised to allow Hong Kong residents civil liberties – unseen in the rest of China – after it took control of the city in 1997.

China’s communist leaders take a hard line against any threat to their monopoly on power, including clamping down on dissidents and Muslim Uighur separatists in the country’s far west. But it cannot crack down too harshly on the semi-autonomous territory where a freewheeling media ensures global visibility..

* Associated Press