HK lawmakers prevent swearing-in
Print Edition
DOZENS of lawmakers walked out of the Hong Kong legislature yesterday to prevent the swearing-in of two “pro-independence” individual members-elect.
Hong Kong has been governed under the “one country, two systems” principle since its return to the motherland in 1997.
The government failed in an unprecedented legal attempt to halt the swearing-in of the two individual members-elect, Baggio Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25, on Tuesday night.
But High Court judge Thomas Au did approve the government’s request for a judicial review of the case, which will take place early next month.
The lawmakers marched out of the Legislative Council chamber yesterday, forcing the meeting’s adjournment to next week because the 70-seat chamber lacked the 35-member quorum needed.
Senior lawmaker Regina Ip said she generally disapproved of walk-outs, but the legislators had no option after the pair refused to apologize for “insulting our motherland.”
“This is a very exceptional case involving a fundamental principle which involves loyalty to your country and adherence to our oath of upholding the law,” she said.
The walk-out came a week after the pair’s first oaths were rejected by legislative officials. At the time, the two members-elect pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a banner declaring that “Hong Kong is not China,” using language portrayed as derogatory Japanese slang.
Outside the chamber, hundreds of protesters thronged the grounds of the legislature, some carrying placards of the pair dressed in Japanese army uniforms that denounced them as traitors and dogs.
Others protesters chanted that the pair must step down to protect China’s dignity.
Legislator Tien Puk-sun said that even if the members-elect who deliberately used curse words insulting the Chinese nation apologize, they still should not be allowed to retake the oath.
More than 400,000 Hong Kong residents have supported a university student’s petition demanding the pair apologize and retract their insulting comments.
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