- Title: CHINA-HONG KONG/STUDENT RALLY Defiant students give Hong Kong leader ultimatum
- Date: 24th September 2014
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENT RALLY IN CENTRAL HONG KONG PARK DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE HONG KONG FEDERATION OF STUDENTS, LESTER SHUM, HOLDING UP CHAIR RESERVED FOR HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEUNG CHUN-YING (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE HONG KONG FEDERATION OF STUDENTS, LESTER SHUM, SAYING: "Either he has
- Embargoed: 9th October 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9EUNQ9U22YV62HNBMDW2QEBY6
- Story Text: Hong Kong's striking students on Tuesday (September 23) gave the city's leader 48 hours to honour his promise to listen to the people, threatening further action if he failed to respond to their demands for greater democracy in the former British colony.
Hundreds attended an evening rally in a park after earlier scuffles broke out when the students took their pro-democracy protest to the government headquarters nearby, where they pushed through barriers and rushed to meet Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying as he stepped out to meet the crowd in the Central business district.
Leung did not speak to the students but told reporters that any political reform in the former British colony would need to take into account Beijing's wishes.
The Hong Kong Federation of Student's deputy secretary-general, Lester Shum, put an empty chair on the stage, challenging Leung to have a direct dialogue with the students and people.
"Either he has problems with his ability to comprehend and does not understand the students' demands and the people's demands, or he just has no heart to listen to our opinions, because both his knees are already kneeling in front of grandpa (Beijing)," said Shum, threatening further action if Leung did not respond in two days.
Student leaders from the group later also urged regular Hong Kong people to join their protest after work on Wednesday (September 24) evening, with an aim to "burst the streets" around key public buildings including the city's government headquarters, the local legislature and a Chinese People's Liberation Army barracks.
The students are facing a showdown with Beijing over its decision to rule out fully democratic elections for Hong Kong's next leader in 2017, with about 13,000 joining a rally at a university campus on Monday (September 22) to mark the start of a week-long boycott of classes.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland under a formula known as "one country, two systems".
But Beijing last month rejected demands for people to freely choose the city's next leader in 2017, insisting that candidates had to be pre-screened.
"They are angry with the Hong Kong government because right now our government is not defending our 'One Country, Two Systems'. They are not defending our, not independence, but our status under the Basic Law," said Joyce Cheung, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The Basic Law refers to the mini-constitution for post-1997 Hong Kong which enshrines the one country, two systems formula.
This week's student boycott of classes is the latest in a string of civil disobedience campaigns in Hong Kong which has been dogged by a series of rallies over the issue of electoral reform.
A movement called 'Occupy Central' is threatening to shut down Central Hong Kong with a mass sit-in.
"I agree with it because it's a last resort. A last way we can do. As a student we come out for many years for demonstrations and it's a dream we ask for, last ten years, universal suffrage. But it's so sad, like, you know, when you go for a dream and it didn't come true. Even after ten years all your dreams, you just, like, you don't want to give it up. So it's the last fight I think," said graduate from Ling Nan University, Jose Ng.
The students' ability to mobilize thousands to fight for democracy has made their support an increasingly important driver of the city's burgeoning civil disobedience movement.
For Beijing, the prospect of protracted student protests highlights one of their worst fears - a student movement that spreads across the mainland, challenging the Communist Party's grip on power.
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