One of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy leaders struggled to
contain his emotions Wednesday as he warned protests would spread like
“blossoming flowers” and pleaded with residents to understand why the
city has been brought to a standstill.
Filipinos living and working in Hong Kong, meanwhile, said the protests were not a cause for concern.
Occupy Central co-founder Chan Kin-man told reporters it was
inevitable the protests, which have already taken over several main
roads and intersections, would grow if the government maintained its
hard line stance.
“We understand why citizens are continuing to expand the occupation, it is because the government is so cold,” Chan said.
“Despite such a large occupation, the government is still using such
an attitude, so a lot of people think that the action now is not enough
and that flowers must continue to blossom everywhere.”
Occupy Central is one of the main organizers of the protest which
spread to different parts of the semi-autonomous city after riot police
tear-gassed demonstrators on Sunday, prompting more supporters to join
them on the streets.
Tens of thousands of protesters have assembled in three major
commercial and retail areas of Hong Kong for the past three days
demanding the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. By midday
Wednesday, crowds in the central district of Admiralty had already
increased to several thousand, with offices closed for a public holiday
to mark China’s National Day.
Protest leaders urged the crowd not to disturb the flag-raising
ceremony on the Victoria Harbour waterfront but students who ringed the
ceremony at Bauhinia Square booed as the National Anthem was played.
Chan, who was close to tears, apologized to citizens for the inconvenience the sit-ins have caused and asked for tolerance.
“I hope everyone will understand what we are doing is not to harm Hong Kong.
“With this short-term inconvenience, we hope to bring about a system that is more fair.”
The massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong are potentially the
greatest domestic security challenge to hit China’s communist
government. And just like the territorial dispute over the West PH Sea,
Prof. Richard Heydarian of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Political
Science department said China could become isolated internationally
should it decide to order a massive clampdown on the protesters.
Any harsh repression coming from Beijing, he pointed out, could also imperil the economic standing of Hong Kong in the region.
“If there will be a heavy crackdown, Beijing will be blamed,
internationally isolated, and Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub
could be severely undermined,” Heydarian, one of the country’s foremost
foreign affairs and economic analyst, told Manila Bulletin Wednesday.
He noted that if protests continue, this may encourage similar
movements in China’s other autonomous regions – Tibet and Xinjuang,
which are also Chinese mainland’s most prosperous cities.
The growing unrest has prompted China to cut off news about Hong
Kong’s pro-democracy protests to the rest of the country, a clampdown so
thorough that no image of the rallies has appeared in state-controlled
media, and at least one man has been detained for reposting accounts of
the events.
By contrast, media in semiautonomous Hong Kong have been broadcasting
nonstop about the crowds, showing unarmed students fending off tear gas
and pepper spray with umbrellas as they call for more representative
democracy in the former British colony.
Censorship of microblogs – including phrases such as “tear gas” – has
kept online discussion muted. The image-sharing Instagram service was
shut down in China over the weekend.
Beijing is on edge because it fears the social movement in Hong Kong
and its appeal for democracy could galvanize members of the Chinese
public, said Zhao, the analyst from Shanghai.
“It must be tightly controlled so it will not infect the mainland,” he said.
At the flag-raising ceremony on China’s National Day marking the
founding of communist China in 1949, protesters heckled Leung demanding
that he step down.
In a speech, Leung made no direct mention of the protesters, who have
blocked streets for days to press demands for genuine democratic
reforms for Hong Kong’s first direct elections in 2017 to choose the
city’s top leader.
Beijing has restricted the voting reforms, requiring candidates to be
screened by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing local elites similar to
the one that handpicked Leung for the job.
Leung said the community should work together in a “peaceful, lawful,
rational and pragmatic manner” while reiterating his commitment to the
“Chinese dream”.
He told voters it is better to agree to Beijing’s plans for
nominating candidates and to hold an election, than to stick with the
current system of having an Election Commission choose the chief
executive.
“It is definitely better to have the chief executive elected by 5
million eligible voters than by 1,200 people. And it is definitely
better to cast your vote at the polling station than to stay home and
watch on television the 1,200 members of the Election Committee cast
their votes.”
