Leung: Outside forces involved in Occupy protests
Print Edition
VIOLENT clashes erupted in Hong Kong early yesterday, despite the scheduling of two hours of talks tomorrow between the government and student protest leaders.
Occupy Central demonstrators in the Mong Kok district launched a fresh assault in the early hours, putting on helmets and goggles before surging forward to grab a line of metal barricades that had been hemming them into a section of road.
Paul Renouf, the senior policeman at the scene, said up to 500 officers were deployed to force the crowds about 20 meters back from their position near an intersection.
Police condemned attempts by the protesters to charge police cordon lines, saying such acts seriously undermined public order and threatened the safety of themselves and others.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung said that China’s central authorities are fully aware of Hong Kong’s situation and had expressed confidence in him and the Hong Kong government to tackle the Occupy Central movement.
Yesterday’s violence was the second turbulent night in Mong Kok following a police operation before dawn on Friday when most of the tents, canopies and barricades blocking main roads in the commercial area in Kowloon for almost three weeks were removed.
Scores of people who were occupying the Nathan Road near the Argyle Street in Mong Kok attempted to charge police cordon lines after pulling up barriers in the early morning.
Police said they had warned the protesters repeatedly, including displaying banners, about attempting their charge. They said they were forced to use minimum force to disperse the protesters in a bid to bring the situation under control after their warnings were ignored.
A man was arrested for the possession of an offensive weapon after two knives were found in his backpack. Three people were injured and a police officer suffered a dislocated shoulder, a spokesman said.
Calm returned to the area after dawn broke, although hundreds of protesters remained on the street in a standoff with police.
In their statement, police urged protesters to leave the demonstration site as soon as possible, while advising members of the public not to go to the area.
Police also reiterated that any acts endangering public order and safety would not be tolerated, and said they would take resolute measures against illegal acts.
In a television interview yesterday, Leung said the central government had openly expressed serious concern over Hong Kong, and was fully aware of what was happening in the city and the reasons behind the events that are unfolding.
He also said that the Occupy Central movement was not entirely a domestic movement, as external forces were involved.
Leung said: “There is obviously participation by people, organizations, from outside of Hong Kong, in politics in Hong Kong, over a long time. And this is not the only time when they do it. And this is not an exception, either.”
He noted that no one can now control the movement, which has spiralled out of control, even for the movement’s organizer.
“It’s gone out of control even for the people who started it, for people who planned it, for people who scripted it. You now see them still writing articles about it or appearing in some neighborhoods that have been occupied, and talked to the people as recent as last night.
“But they cannot end the movement, which is a major concern,” he said.
Leung said it would take time to work out a solution to the problem and he wanted to see a peaceful and meaningful end to it, adding that Hong Kong had been fortunate that the central government has had such confidence in and support for himself and the Hong Kong government.
Looking to the future, Leung said he had a responsibility to deliver universal suffrage in Hong Kong in 2017 according to the Basic Law and is working towards that goal and hoping it will happen.
Thousands of protesters, most of whom are students, joined the Occupy Central movement to express their discontent with the framework set by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on electing the region’s next leader through universal suffrage.
According to Hong Kong Basic Law and the top legislature’s decisions, more than 5 million Hong Kong voters could have a say to who will become the chief executive in 2017 by the “one man, one vote” election, something that it had never been realized under British colonial rule.
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