A demonstrator dressed in a rain court and protective goggles stands in front of the... Read More
In Mong Kok, men fought and scuffled with protesters, seized tents and tried to remove road-blocks. In Causeway Bay, where more confrontations took place, a group trying to reclaim a main road described themselves as ordinary citizens. While the
throng of protesters has dwindled from an Oct. 1 peak, blockades prevented about 3,000 civil servants from going to work at government offices in the Admiralty district.
Slideshow: Hong Kong's Democracy Standoff
“They
have the right motives but use the wrong means,” said Kou Lin Sang, one
of those trying to remove barricades in Causeway Bay. “Why do they want
to disgrace the city?” Protests spurred by China’s decision to vet candidates for a 2017 leadership election pose one of Xi Jinping’s biggest challenges since he became president last year. Demonstrators see the protests as a last chance to secure democracy and force China to respect the “One Country, Two Systems” pledge it made when it took control of Hong Kong in 1997 after 156 years of British colonial rule.
Demonstrators on an elevated road look at the office of Hong Kong's chief executive... Read More
Curses, Attacks
In Mong Kok, hundreds of men clashed with demonstrators, swearing, scuffling and trying to destroy protesters’ signs and supplies, as police tried to restore order.In Causeway Bay, police separated protesters and a group of men who removed some barricades blocking Hennessy Road, the shopping district’s main thoroughfare. A crowd of about 200 onlookers watched as the protesters attempted to rebuild the barriers and the other men shouted at them to clear the way.
Students appeared to be struggling to maintain their numbers as heavy rain periodically soaked rally sites. Organizers estimated at the weekend that numbers swelled to as many as 200,000. Police have not given estimates.
The benchmark Hang Seng stock index of stocks closed 0.6 percent higher on speculation that a 3.2 percent slump the previous two trading days was excessive. The Hong Kong dollar rose 0.07 percent, the most since March, to HK$7.759 versus the greenback as of 6:17 p.m. local time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A demonstrator uses a smartphone next to an effigy of Chief Executive Leung Chun ying... Read More
‘Desperation’
“Hong Kong is at a point of desperation,” said Sam Hsu, 41, who went directly to the Admiralty protest site with his suitcase yesterday upon his return from a business trip to Shanghai. “We can only pick set A or set B, potato chicken stew or curry chicken, but everyone already knows what the ultimate arrangement is.”Hsu, who was born on the mainland and moved to Hong Kong in 1987, urged protesters not to waver.
“If people’s morale disappears, Hong Kong will fall into an even deeper abyss,” he said. “People will just emigrate to Vancouver, Taiwan. Or they will take even more provocative actions. Hong Kong won’t be able to repeat its glory days of the 80s and 90s either way.”
Students may be seeking a negotiated solution to the standoff, even though their demands have been rejected outright by Leung, who was publicly supported this week by the government in Beijing.
Welcoming Dialog
Several protest leaders welcomed the beginning of dialog and tried to ratchet down tensions, urging the thousands remaining on the streets last night to avoid provoking clashes with police who used tear gas and pepper spray last weekend. Some demonstrators dismissed Leung’s move as a stalling tactic.The unrest so far has cost Hong Kong’s retailers HK$2.2 billion ($283 million), or about 6 percent of the month’s total sales, Raymond Yeung, a senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said in a research note today. Neighboring Macau, a gambling mecca for mainland Chinese tourists, may also be hit with some premium players canceling trips, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Karen Tang said in a note.
While banks reopened some outlets today, Bank of East Asia Ltd. said this afternoon it was shutting branches in Mong Kok because of “concerns arising from the protest.” The Hong Kong Monetary Authority earlier said that 20 bank outlets were closed, down from 33 on the previous business day.
Government ‘Tolerance’
Hong Kong’s “government and police will continue to exercise the highest degree of tolerance to let the young people gather,” Leung said last night at a briefing in his official residence. “Any place in the world if protesters surround, even charge or occupy, government or police quarters, the problem and consequence are very serious. I hope they can continue to be self-restrained and reasonable.”Leung’s offer is “a practical move to buy more time” while he waits for public opinion to turn against the movement, said Hung Ho-fung, an associate sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who studies Hong Kong and China.
“I couldn’t imagine or have any expectations about any breakthrough,” Hung said. “They’re stuck in the corner. From Beijing’s perspective, from the Hong Kong government’s perspective, it’s very difficult to make meaningful substantive concession.”
The protests have sparked solidarity events around the globe from New York to Taipei, with demonstrators often holding up umbrellas that became a symbol of the protests after demonstrators used them to protect themselves from police pepper spray.
The demonstration may have also attracted the interest of the Anonymous hacking group. Eleven websites of Hong Kong businesses were defaced yesterday by hackers who injected the the logo “OpHongKong hosted by Anonymous,” the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre said in an e-mailed statement. A video posted yesterday in the name of the Anonymous group threatened attacks on Hong Kong government websites in support of the protests.
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