- Title: Hong Kong activists say government's offer for dialogue is "a trap"
- Date: 29th August 2019
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MASKED PROTESTER KNOWN AS DIALOGUE, NG, SAYING: "All but one of the (2014) student leaders who participated in the talks with her (Carrie Lam) ended up in jail. (A) Fact speaks for itself. So much for Carrie Lam's promises of fair, more transparent, and representative elections. These examples clearly show that, in Carrie Lam's world, there was never room for any dialogue in the first place. Her dialogue has always been nothing more than a PR stunt, so that the government could further divide public opinion, distract her focus, exhaust our energy, and exact revenge on every last one of us." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER STUDENT LEADER, YVONNE LEUNG, SAYING: "Clearly, a negotiation without sincerity will only become a political show. There could be no meaningful interaction during the discussion. And regrettably, it would become a waste on time." FORMER STUDENT LEADER, YVONNE LEUNG, SEATED WITH FORMER STUDENT LEADER, LESTER SHUM AND ACTIVIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER STUDENT LEADER, YVONNE LEUNG, SAYING: "They launched the negotiation to try to delay and cause criticism (of) the protesters. Thirdly, it also tried to create false hope, and tried to make the more radical cluster and the moderate clusters amongst the protesters fight against themselves, so that eventually they would eliminate the movement without having to pay anything." MASKED PROTESTERS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER STUDENT LEADER, YVONNE LEUNG, SAYING: "We wish that the elites, or the stakeholders of the society, according to the chief executive, these people with more bargaining power than anyone, and these people who can actually exert pressure on the government, to continue what they have been doing. That is to (pressure) the government and stand with the people, call for the five demands to be satisfied." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 12th September 2019 11:41
- Keywords: China civil disobedience Hong Kong protests protests mass protest demonstrators activists protester news conference Hong Kong Umbrella movement
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AU9RFIF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Former student leaders and activists on Thursday (August 29) joined a news conference organised by masked Hong Kong protesters to warn against engaging in a dialogue platform set up by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
The speakers included former Umbrella Movement leaders Lester Shum and Yvonne Leung, both of whom participated in high-profile talks with the Hong Kong government in 2014 after a mass pro-democracy movement paralysed the city's financial centre.
"They launched the negotiation to try to delay and cause criticism (of) the protesters... it also tried to create false hope," said Leung, a former Hong Kong Federation of Students representative.
The territory's controversial leader has previously announced her commitment to building a platform for dialogue to resolve social issues, while insisting the police would continue to apply firm measures to handle illegal protests.
The Chinese-ruled city is grappling with its biggest political crisis since its handover to Beijing in 1997, with Communist Party authorities having sent a clear warning that forceful intervention is possible to quell the violence.
(Production: Aleksander Solum) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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