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Without details on the electoral reform plan, any possible dialogue between the protesters and the government will be fruitless. Photo: Bloomberg
The stalemate between the Occupy movement and the Hong Kong and Beijing governments does not bode well. To break the impasse, all sides will need to act.
First, Beijing may have to push the SAR government to come up with a concrete political reform consultation document. This should include several aspects: the method for democratising the composition of the nominating committee (including, for example, a change from some corporate voters to a wider franchise); the relaxation of the criteria, thus allowing pan-democratic candidates to enter the first round of nomination; and the technical details of how the final two to three candidates would be chosen to contest the election through universal suffrage.
Without such details, any possible dialogue between student leaders and pan-democrats on the one hand and the government on the other will be fruitless.
The Hong Kong government will have to put forward the consultation document as soon as possible, together with an announcement that a public opinion assessment office will be set up to collect views on a reform model. This would necessitate the appointment of a director who can command trust and respect in society, and who would lead a team of pollsters conducting opinion surveys in an authoritative and independent manner.
The Hong Kong government should also consider an appropriate response to the democrats' demands about the development of the Legislative Council.
It can use the consultation document to deal with legislative reform in at least two aspects: establishing a consultative committee on Legco reforms as soon as possible, and a promise to consider introducing a bicameral legislature.
This should comprise a lower house composed of all directly elected seats and an upper house that includes functional constituency seats and also possibly members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress. A bicameral legislature would be a possible way out of the impasse amid pan-democrats' demand to abolish functional constituencies in Legco.
Student leaders will have to moderate their demands as well, and be far more realistic. Instead of harping on the unrealistic request for the NPC Standing Committee to change its August 31 decision, they should get involved in discussion of the details of such reforms. "Institutional design" should be the motto of student leaders, rather than using slogans and claims that are politically unacceptable to Beijing.
Next, democrats should seek to persuade protesters in the three occupied zones - Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay - to withdraw to parks and areas that will not constitute illegal occupation. This, alongside the government's move to accelerate the publication of a consultative document on political reform models, would hopefully foster a political atmosphere of trust.
Finally, the chief executive could consider dissolving Legco, in accordance with Article 50 of the Basic Law, which states that he can do so if the legislature does not pass "important bills". Given that executive-legislative confrontations of the recent past do not bode well for constructive dialogue between pan-democrats and the government, the chief executive could take the opportunity to call for a new round of elections that would usher in a new legislature.
This may in fact strengthen the government's hand: if fewer pan-democrat politicians were re-elected, the new legislature could well pass the government's proposed electoral reform model - a solution that would settle the ongoing dispute peacefully.
Sonny Lo is professor and head of the department of social sciences at the Hong Kong Institute of Education
Alex Kwok: "The marshals have it really tough". Photo: Sam Tsang
When Hong Kong police fired the first round of tear gas at pro-democracy protesters on September 28, the head of Occupy Central’s marshal team, Alex Kwok Siu-kit, was not panicked.
Kwok, a seasoned unionist for more than a decade, had already tasted tear gas during protests by Korean farmers at the World Trade Organisation meeting in 2005 in Hong Kong.
From jumping into the icy waters of Victoria Harbour that year after farmers tried to swim around a security cordon, to holding off Occupy opponents from attacking protesters last month, the 50-year-old has seen a lot and is fazed by little.
But now Kwok says he is facing one of his biggest challenges – maintaining unity among the divided civil disobedience protesters themselves.
“The marshals have it really tough. They don’t even dare to put on their marshal armbands because some people have tried to disunite us,” says Kwok, his walkie-talkie buzzing now and again.
Kwok leads a team run by the Occupy Central group, one of the main organisers of the protests which have been primarily led by student groups.
Vice-chairman of one of the city’s lifeguard unions, Kwok notes that some protesters have always stressed that there should be no leaders or marshals in the civil disobedience campaign, now in its seventh week.
The result is that those protesters refuse to listen to instructions from the 50-strong group of marshals, and sometimes argue with them.
“Take the time when a small group of protesters wanted to storm onto Lung Wo Road as an example. We tried to tell them not to do so. But they just did not listen,” he says, wearing a shirt that reads ‘I choose my own government’.
Marshals and some protesters formed a human chain to try to stop the others from storming onto the road, an important traffic link on Hong Kong Island.
Kwok says occupiers can decide for themselves whether to follow instructions from marshals, but they must at least stand united.
The police, triads and other opponents of the street blockades have also made life difficult for the marshals.
One day, a group of suspected triad members and other anti-Occupy Central elements arrived in Admiralty almost simultaneously and tried to remove the barricades there.
Few police officers were around to maintain order, and Kwok was attacked by the triad members.
“I told the woman inspector that the officers have seen the people who hit me. Why didn’t they arrest the attackers?” he says.
Training for the Occupy Central marshals started about a year ago. Kwok took the volunteers to the annual June 4 vigil in Victoria Park and to the July 1 march to show them how the marshals at the events kept order.
Marshal Ryan Chan, 25, says there was a time when the protesters appreciated their work.
“At first, when Occupy Central was working together with the students, that was a time when people really appreciated us,” says Chan, a photographer who has stopped working for a month to take part in the movement.
“Then at one point, the protesters questioned what the purpose of having marshals was…During that time we didn’t wear our armbands because it made things difficult.”
Chan says the marshals are divided into teams of about seven.
Another marshal, Fish Teo, recalls protesters egging each other on to occupy Lung Wo Road.
“There were no policemen around to take care of the traffic, and [the marshals] had the reflective batons so we ended up doing it. That was during the time when people didn’t like us very much, so we just couldn’t say who we were,” says Teo, a preacher in her 30s.
“I remember spending the whole night directing traffic, simply because I had a baton. We weren’t maintaining order; more like avoiding confusion.”
Part of the Admiralty protest camp on Connaught Road Central and Harcourt Road. Photo: AFP
Hong Kong’s High Court has delayed a decision on whether to order pro-democracy demonstrators to clear some sections of roads where the main protest camp in Admiralty is based.
Two units of private bus company Kwoon Chung Bus told the court that the blockading of parts of Connaught Road Central and Harcourt Road had negatively impacted their business, including schoolbus services.
A lawyer for an Occupy protester disputed the gravity of the disruption caused by the protest camp, and Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-ching adjourned the case until next week to allow for more evidence to be gathered.
On Monday, Au extended three injunctions ordering protesters to clear sections of Nathan Road in Mong Kok and the area around Citic Tower in Admiralty opposite government headquarters.
He authorised police to make arrests if protesters prevent bailiffs from carrying out the injunctions.
The street blockades are in their seventh straight week, an act of civil disobedience in protest at Beijing’s refusal to allow an open election of Hong Kong’s next leader.
Barrister Warren Chan SC, representing the bus companies, read letters that he said were from parents detailing how some pupils had to wake up at 4:30am to catch schoolbuses. Some were waking up 90 minutes earlier than usual to ensure they made it to school on time, Chan said.
“The world has turned upside down” since the protest campaign began, he said, and parents and pupils were exhausted and suffering in “hell”.
Kwok Cheuk-kin, who said he had been participating in the protests since September 28, asked to join the case as a defendant after he was granted legal aid on Monday.
His lawyer Hectar Pun argued that the bus companies were exaggerating how much disruption had been caused to their services.
While the companies said one of their schoolbus routes was delayed by an average of six minutes on each journey, Pun said his client had found that the route was only delayed by three or four minutes.
They asked the court to allow more time to file evidence to support their argument, and Au adjourned the hearing until November 17.
Re: HK Protest Leaders High! Demands Talks With 11 Jinping In Peking!
End Occupy protests to give small businesses a chance to recover, before it's too late
Felix Chung calls on protesters to withdraw before their illegal occupation causes small businesses already suffering to retrench - a no-win situation for everyone in Hong Kong
At any time, cash flow is a major challenge for SMEs and microenterprises as they need to pay rent and wages.
It has now been more than a month since students and protesters began unlawfully occupying several main roads in Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and Admiralty.
There can be no doubt that the Occupy movement has caused significant damage to the Hong Kong economy. Those directly affected include the retail, tourism, catering and transport sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as microenterprises. They are all now facing the most difficult conditions since the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003.
I very much respect protesters' right to voice their opinions. However, they should, at the same time, respect the rights of others - for example, road users - and take into account the interests of the general public.
Most importantly, they should respect the rule of law. Their protest has greatly affected the business sector and that will, in turn, affect the whole economic situation and competitiveness of Hong Kong, and ultimately the employment of local people.
The inconvenience caused by blockading roads has resulted in a decline in customer sentiment. In mid-October, the Hong Kong government said that the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau had met 20 commerce organisations or associations of different trades to better understand the impact of the Occupy movement.
According to the information gathered, SME retailers in the occupied areas have experienced a drop in business, of up to 80 per cent in some cases. Associations say some overseas clients have cancelled their business trips to Hong Kong, while exhibitors have withdrawn from exhibitions and conventions. All this has also affected hotel bookings and receipts at tourist attractions in some areas.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the HKSMEA business association has revealed that the majority of the SMEs said they had been affected or severely affected by the Occupy movement, while more than 60 per cent said daily turnover had dropped by 40 per cent or more. Average daily losses for each amounted to over HK$11,000
.
Moreover, the Hong Kong Taxi Association and the Federation of Hong Kong Kowloon New Territories Hawkers Associations both reported a drop in business for their members as a result of the protests, by about a third and 70 per cent respectively.
These figures show that SMEs and microenterprises are now on the edge of a precipice and cannot withstand the impact of the Occupy movement for much longer. At any time, cash flow is a major challenge for SMEs and microenterprises as they need to pay rent and wages.
If the current protests continue, they will inevitably affect the livelihood of frontline employees. Many of them may be the parents or family members of protesters on the street. It will be a no-win situation. Thus, students and protesters really must withdraw from the main roads in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay to give SMEs and microenterprises a chance to recover.
Although the overall impact of the Occupy movement will only be fully ascertained with the release of economic data in the next quarter, we can already see that the protests have had a negative impact on the special administrative region's international image and on investor confidence.
There have clearly been other effects as well. An official start date - November 17 - has finally been announced for the long-awaited Shanghai-Hong Kong cross-border share trading link. Although no official reason was given for the delay in Beijing's approval, many believe it was related to the political uncertainty brought about by the protests.
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah has warned that if the movement continued, the Hong Kong stock market could face a loss of confidence. He also said that the protests threatened the economy, government operations and the rule of law.
I hope students and protesters realise political stability is crucial to the city's economic development. The strong rule-of-law tradition is an important foundation stone of Hong Kong. Students and demonstrators should realise that their protests are breaking the law and thus also bringing enormous damage to the rule of law.
Now more than ever, they need to respect the rule of law and court orders, and withdraw from the streets for the sake of all Hong Kong.
Felix Chung Kwok-pan is a member of the Legislative Council and vice-chairman of the Liberal Party
Benny Tai with Tonya as a little girl. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The daughter of Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting has written of her "unbearable pain" at seeing her father's "white hair, coarse voice and staggering steps" since the protests began.
In a 1,900-word article posted on the In-media website yesterday, Tonya Tai wrote in Chinese of her father, the "most diligent person and best husband and daddy in the world".
The article includes an old photograph of Tai and Tonya as a little girl. The byline is "Tong-ya", but In-media editor Damon Wong Chun-pong confirmed it was written by Tonya, a fourth-year student at Chinese University's government and public administration department. Tonya also confirmed she had written it.
Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said yesterday he "dared not read" the article before the lecture he was about to give as he was afraid he would get too emotional. Tai has two other children.
Tonya also revealed that she was studying in Australia when the Occupy protests began on September 27, but she returned to Hong Kong for 10 days to support her father.
Tonya begins by saying how proud she is of Tai's knowledge, and that he "respects and enjoys his job more than anyone else".
"I am most proud of his selfless and fearless spirit," she wrote, adding that Tai continued to be dedicated to his job in academia after starting up the civil disobedience movement about two years ago. "I've seen a lot less of dad at home [since then].
"Dad said he's timid … but he never shrinks back in the face of criticism … When I saw him on TV, hitting back at the unintelligent remarks of pro-establishment councillors, I was shocked.
"But he also has his weak side. Countless times he has broken down and cried in church … but after letting out [his emotions] he … would smile again."
Tonya also revealed that she was studying in Australia when the Occupy protests began on September 27, but she returned to Hong Kong for 10 days to support her father. "He never rested," she wrote. "His hair turning white suddenly, his coarse voice and staggering steps gave me an unbearable pain in my heart. All I could do was to pray for him."
She also wrote of the criticism directed at Tai. "I don't understand why people refuse to acknowledge my dad's contribution," she wrote. "I started to be afraid to go onto Facebook, to see the news, or see anyone - I don't want to see any comment that's against my dad … but he says, 'This is their opinion and I should accept it'," she wrote.
"Dad, I am really proud to be your cherished daughter, you are my idol and hero … I miss you. When do you think we can go back to having dinner together again? I love you very much."
Occupy Central co-founders (from left) Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Professor Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man. Photo: EPA
Occupy Central co-founders tentatively plan to turn themselves in to police next week, the South China Morning Post has learned.
This comes as police sources say the force may begin executing from tomorrow the injunctions taken out against the Mong Kok and Admiralty sit-ins.
A core member of Occupy Central told the Post that the three organisers of the civil disobedience movement and its volunteers were planning to surrender to police on Friday next week, in an attempt to show that they were willing to accept the legal consequences of joining the "unlawful" pro-democracy protest.
"We will sit peacefully on the roads and let the police arrest us if the clearance starts earlier than Friday next week," the source said.
"We don't want to surrender before Monday - when the Hong Kong-Shanghai stocks 'through train' officially kicks off - as the last thing we want to do is to give [Chief Executive] Leung Chun-ying a chance to show Beijing that he can 'resume social order' as he promised [President] Xi Jinping ."
However, the deputy leader of the Federation of Students, Lester Shum, had some reservations. "The police are already planning to clear the sites," he said. "I would rather be arrested than surrender."
Acting Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor yesterday urged the protesters to leave the occupied sites as soon as possible, as police had already started preparations to execute the court orders.
"To uphold the rule of law, police are preparing to enforce the law, including making arrests," she said yesterday. "An injunction is a solemn order made by the court, which should be fully respected and strictly followed by all."
The three injunctions cover sections of Nathan Road, Mong Kok, and the space around Citic Tower in Admiralty, opposite government headquarters.
Under the court orders, protesters face arrest if they prevent bailiffs removing barricades.
Detectives from the elite organised crime and triad bureau, led by senior superintendent Brian Lowcock, had held day-long talks with the Department of Justice to discuss legal issues surrounding the implementation of the injunctions, according to a police source.
An application from two subsidiaries of private transport operator Kwung Chung Bus for further injunctions to eject protesters from the main Admiralty protest site on Harcourt Road was held up at the High Court yesterday. Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-ching adjourned the case to next week so more evidence could be gathered.
The companies had argued that the blockading of parts of Connaught Road Central and Harcourt Road had hit their business, including school bus services.
Barrister Warren Chan SC, representing the bus companies, read letters from parents detailing how pupils had to wake up at 4.30am to catch school buses.
"The world has turned upside down" since the protest campaign began, Chan said, and parents and pupils were exhausted and suffering in "hell".
US has no involvement in fostering Occupy protest, Obama tells Xi
Despite his 'unequivocal' denial of American role in Occupy sit-ins, president gets warning from host to stay out of Hong Kong affairs
Chris Lau, Kwong Man-ki in Beijing and Ng Kang-chung
America has "no involvement"
The United States has no role in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, President Barack Obama said in Beijing yesterday.
But that wasn't enough to avoid a stern warning from President Xi Jinping that the city's affairs were strictly China's business.
"On the issue of Hong Kong, I was unequivocal in saying to President Xi that the United States has no involvement in fostering the protest that took place there," Obama said of talks with his Chinese counterpart.
It is the first time the US president has spoken in public about accusations made by some mainland media and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
"We are going to consistently speak out on the right of people to express themselves and encourage that the elections that take place in Hong Kong are transparent and fair and reflective of the opinions of people there," added Obama, who travelled to Beijing for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit.
Leung has previously said he had proof foreign forces had long been meddling in local politics. In Beijing yesterday, Leung maintained foreign forces were interfering in the city's affairs.
Xi reiterated Beijing would give its full backing to the Hong Kong authorities in handling the Occupy Central protests.
Obama and Xi held a joint press conference in Beijing. Photo: AP
"Hong Kong affairs are exclusively China's internal affair and foreign countries should not interfere in those affairs in any form or fashion," he said, adding that law and order in Hong Kong had to be maintained.
Leung said: "Hong Kong, as a Chinese city and a highly open city, there have always been foreign forces [operating]. And it is my responsibility to have an understanding and awareness of foreign forces involved in movements or activities in Hong Kong."
He did not substantiate his claims but again said he would do so at an appropriate time.
The comments came on the 45th day of the city's unfolding civil disobedience movement, in which thousands of protesters, mainly students, have blocked parts of Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and Admiralty to press their demand for greater democracy than allowed by a ruling of the National People's Congress.
Neither Obama nor Xi mentioned the prime cause of the movement - Beijing's insistence on a tightly controlled nominating committee to vet candidates for chief executive.
Veteran journalist Ching Cheong said the frank exchanges showed the maturity of the Sino-US relationship but would not have any impact on the Occupy movement.
"The only thing I can think of is how it would make people who think there has been external influence behind the Occupy movement embarrassed," he said, referring to Leung and his cabinet.
Meanwhile, Leung said he met National People's Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang yesterday and Zhang had reiterated the central government's "resolute support" for implementing the "one country, two systems" formula and pressing ahead with the city's democratic development.
The British consulate in Admiralty. Photo: Antony Dickson
Students plan to occupy roads surrounding the British consulate in anger at a lack of support from London for their pro-democracy movement.
Activists have put up large posters around the city’s protest areas announcing the occupation at the consulate in Admiralty next Friday (November 21). A Facebook page for the event has more than 700 likes.
Organisers say they want to show their anger at Britain for not standing up to Beijing over “breaches” of the agreement the two countries made before Hong Kong was handed back to China by the UK in 1997, designed to protect the city’s social systems and way of life.
“We are angry at the way that the British government has for many years denied that China has actually breached the declaration by interfering with Hong Kong politics,” Anna-Kate Choi, the coordinator for the Occupy British Consulate group said.
“They have the responsibility to make sure that the joint declaration has been implemented properly and that democracy and the high degree of autonomy of Hong Kong has been protected,” Choi said.
She hoped for a turnout of hundreds “maybe even thousands”, with secondary school pupils spearheading the protest.
The British consulate said they had no comment.
Event posters bear the slogan: “China breaches the joint declaration, UK government respond now”, with the pro-democracy movement’s umbrella symbol emblazoned with the British flag.
Britain and China are signatories of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, an agreement that enshrines the “one country, two systems” principle and is meant to preserve Hong Kong’s capitalist system and way of life until 2047.
It states that: “The current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged, and so will the lifestyle.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “deeply concerned” about escalating protests in the city after police used tear gas on protesters at the end of September.
But activists feel that Britain is turning a blind eye and that Beijing is eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms.
Residents enjoy rights not seen on the mainland, including freedom of expression and assembly.
However there are signs some of those rights are being curtailed, including physical and cyberattacks on Hong Kong-based journalists critical of Beijing.
Activists say a policy “white paper”, published by the central government in June, backtracked on the joint declaration by warning the city not to overstep the boundaries of its autonomy.
Protesters are demanding fully free leadership elections for the city in 2017. But Beijing has refused to back down on its insistence that candidates must be vetted by a loyalist committee.
David Eldon said participants in the street blockades had been trained. Photo: Antony Dickson
Former HSBC chairman David Eldon wrote in his blog on Wednesday that it is time for pro-democracy protesters to “move on” from the current impasse.
In a blog entitled “Hopes for the Future”, Eldon said Hong Kong needs to find a resolution so the community can move on and focus on providing a solid base for economic growth.
He said it appeared participants in the Occupy movement had clear instructions and ideas about what to do in its early stages, but now little advice was available on the question of “what next?”
“And this is where we are at the present,” he said.
He said student protesters could generate goodwill by “moving on” from their current position.
“I honestly have no doubt about the students abilities, nor about their sincerity, but you know – the amount of goodwill they would generate immediately by saying ‘we’ve made our point forcefully, but it’s now time to move on’ would be really significant,” he said.
For example, if the students have concerns about their future – such as the job market when they leave school, housing costs or other social service provisions – they could add these into their agenda in dialogue with the government.
He said students all over the world are often idealistic, focusing their efforts on political reform rather than acknowledging the importance of commercial enterprise, but he had heard a story about a young protester which might suggest he understood both after seeing his father idle at home.
“When asked why, the father explained that his business had been so severely affected by the demonstrations that he had no customers," Eldon said.
“The young man, I understand, has not returned to the protest lines – but I suspect he is also unlikely to speak out for fear of abuse. Oh dear!”
The former HSBC boss often writes about politics and current affairs in his blog.
Last month, Eldon wrote that revelations that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying accepted HK$50 million in a deal with Australian engineering firm UGL might lead to pressure from Beijing for Leung to step down.
“President Xi Jinping has made very clear his abhorrence of corruption, and if there is the slightest unpleasant smell about this, what better way than to remove an unpopular official?”
“The departure will not have been the result of student pressure ... and should see the temporary installation of an altogether more popular person in the shape of [Chief Secretary] Carrie Lam [Cheng Yuet-ngor],” he wrote.
Shiu Ka-chun: "Civil disobedience is always an act by a minority." Photo: K.Y. Cheng
The sound of a hand drum made by Shiu Ka-chun has become routine to the occupiers at Admiralty, signalling the beginning of another evening for the pro-democracy protesters dubbed the “Umbrella Movement”.
Shiu – who lectures on social work at Baptist University and hosts the nightly rally at Harcourt Road – is one of a core group of Occupy Central supporters determined to turn themselves in to Hong Kong police soon.
The three co-founders of Occupy Central, as well as volunteers, plan to surrender themselves to police on November 21. Student leaders have reservations, saying they would rather be arrested than surrender.
Tension at the protest camps in Admiralty and Mong Kok has mounted since the High Court granted injunctions ordering protesters away from certain areas. Critics say those who ignore the court’s rulings threaten the city’s cherished rule of law.
Professor Joseph Chan Cho-wai, a political scientist at the University of Hong Kong, has argued that the sit-in could best be described as a “resistance movement” rather than the “civil disobedience” protest the Occupy organisers planned.
That’s because the majority of protesters are reluctant to accept the legal consequences, said Chan, who helped to coach student leaders ahead of their talks with the government last month.
“Civil disobedience has two elements – paralysing the city’s operation and self-sacrifice,” Occupy supporter Shiu told the Post. “We have done the disruption but not many people are willing to do the latter part.”
Shiu said he was attracted – and fascinated – by the self-sacrifice element of Occupy from day one.
“It is the self-sacrifice which makes Occupy different from the previous civil movements I took part in,” he said. “It is the task I set for myself in the second part of my life.”
Shiu, who said he has entered “surrender mode”, will write a confession telling the courts and public why he was willing to pay the price for the movement.
He would have no hard feelings if only hundreds of protesters turn themselves in as “civil disobedience is always an act by a minority”.
The social worker first met the press last April when he vowed to join the protests with other nine comrades, dubbed the “ten Occupy Central diehards”.
Eighteen months later and some of those allies – such as businessmen Jeff Tsui Siu-wah and Tony Tsoi Tung-ho – have faded from the campaign due to political pressure or other reasons.
“All I could say is, I have more advantages [to join Occupy] than Jeff and Tony,” said Shiu, who has neither mainland business links or children.
He also expressed sympathy with the protest organisers – particularly the trio behind Occupy Central. Some protesters, especially the supporters of the more radical pro-democracy group Civic Passion, say that neither the students nor the Occupy leaders represent them, while others say the trio are too moderate or even spineless.
“I do not mind [some people] attacking the ‘main stage’,” said Shiu, referring to the sit-in’s organisers. “What I mind is that you refuse to take up the leading role while you fire those attacks. A movement of such scale needs organisation.”
He said the sit-in’s organisers had put forward some ideas – such as an electronic ballot at the protest zones – in an attempt to break the impasse, but most of the suggestions were poorly received by protesters.
Nevertheless, Shiu believes Hong Kong will never be the same even if the political system remains unchanged in the short term.
“The occupation is like an intensive course which turns rally participants into organisers,” he said. “When many of us are in jail, these people would be the ones who take the lead for the future’s pro-democracy movement.”
Lau Kong-wah said the government was gathering views from protesters and "other people". Photo: Felix Wong
A report being compiled by the Hong Kong government to reflect recent public opinion about the city’s democratic development will form no part of the official reform process, one of the officials drafting the document said today.
The report will include the results of opinion polls and “signature collection campaigns”, likely referring to the controversial signature campaign run by a group opposed to the seven-week-long blockade of main roads by pro-democracy protesters.
It will “objectively and truthfully” reflect public opinion since August 31, when Beijing ruled out an open election of the next chief executive, said Acting Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Lau Kong-wah.
The report will be filed to the central government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. But Lau refused to explain how the government was collecting views from pro-democracy protesters, and said the report will not form part of the official reform process.
The official process will continue with the public being invited to weigh in on a draft reform package that complies with the tight restrictions that Beijing set out on August 31.
A report based on a first round of public consultation earlier this year was heavily criticised for ignoring or downplaying non-establishment views.
Asked by a lawmaker what the point of the new report would be, Lau could not explain, and offered no thoughts on whether it would help to solve the current deadlock between the government and pro-democracy protesters.
Lau was also unable to provide even a rough date for when the report would be finished.
“We will endeavour to include the different aspirations and opinions from different sectors of the community that have been publicly expressed through various channels, including relevant opinion polls and signature campaigns conducted by different organisations,” Lau told lawmakers today.
“Our consulting objects are not only the mass of students [referring to the street protests] but other people as well,” said Lau
Lau did not specify what the point of the report would be, or whether he thought it would help to solve the current deadlock between the government and pro-democracy protesters.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor first offered to send the report during televised talks with student leaders last month.
The students plan to visit Beijing in a bid to discuss Hong Kong’s democratic development with central government officials.
A campaign run by an anti-Occupy Central group, the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, claimed to have amassed 1.8 million signatures in support of police and against the street blockades.
The credibility of the campaign was questioned after organisers admitted they had no system to prevent false or multiple signatures.
Anti-Occupy Central groups protest outside the High Court as injunctions against Admiralty and Mong Kok occupiers were extended on Monday. Photo: Sam Tsang
Ask any lawyer to give a view on any topic and he will give you 10. Ask a good lawyer and he will probably give you 20. So the Occupy organisers today seem to be courting trouble by asking no less than five lawyers to give their views on something as nebulous as civil disobedience.
I said nebulous because if you care to look it up on the internet, you will find no definitive definition of civil disobedience.
In fact you will find there are as many views as there are different aspects of civil disobedience; from passive protest to active resistance; from pleading guilty to contesting guilt in a court of law; from protesting a law, to protesting a government policy, to protesting a government administration; even from something as fundamental as the use, or non-use of violence.
The difference of views appears to be infinite. But there is general consensus that at least one common factor can be found, and that is, a willingness to respect and accept the relevant legal system. That is the marked difference between civil disobedience and open revolt or armed revolution.
Note I said respect for the legal system, not a particular law. For although civil disobedience started out as a form of protest against a particular law, its proponents never advocate any form of escape from lawful punishment. A willingness to accept lawful punishment is the very essence of civil disobedience.
That in itself is a form of respect to the rule of law. Respect for the legal system is not so much as part of the content of the rule of law as the very foundation of it. For without respect, the entire philosophy of the rule of law cannot flourish.
This is quite different from respect for a particular law. Breaching a law is not necessarily an affront to the rule of law, although persistent and widespread disregard of a particular law can lead to an affront to the rule of law.
This is because no society in this world can boast of a crime-free environment. Every day, everywhere, at any time, there are people breaking the law; but that does not mean rule of law does not exist.
On the other hand, if you start disobeying a court’s decision, you are moving very close to challenging the legal system. You can disagree with a court decision; you may even openly criticise it; but you must comply with a court decision.
In doing so, you are not just complying with the wishes of a judge, but respecting the very office the judge is holding, which is an intricate part of the legal machinery. That legal machinery is what the rule of law all about. Without that, rule of law cannot subsist.
Some prominent public figures, themselves well known lawyers and advocates of civil disobedience argue that so long as participants ultimately turn themselves in and accept legal punishment, that is enough and the rule of law will not be harmed.
Such rhetoric suggests the speaker has confused or misunderstood the important difference between breaching a law and disobeying a court’s decision, which represents the very essence of the rule of law.
Before I leave this topic, I must also say a few words about persistent disobedience of a law and a court order. There is no doubt that widespread and persistent disobedience of the law is an affront to the rule of law. More so as regards a court order.
Someone said to me the other day that I should be happy that 75 per cent of people polled in Hong Kong said a court order must be obeyed. I cringed with fear and sadness. 75 per cent? What about the other 25 per cent? Can you imagine how many people that percentage will translate into? Two million!
I shudder to think what will happen to the rule of law if there are two hundred people defying a court order, let alone two million. I hope and pray the poll is wrong!
Recent events show not only we are not at all familiar with the very essence of democracy, which we never have been; but sadly, we are also not at all familiar with the very concept of the rule of law, which we all boast to be our core value and the fabric of this society we call home.
We must do more. Democracy cannot exist on its own; it goes hand in hand with the rule of law. We cannot, and must not, forsake one for the other. For democracy without the rule of law is but a political tyrant with a better name!
Ronny Tong Ka-wah is a barrister and Civic Party legislator
Five people were arrested last night after media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was struck in the face with stinky animal organs in an ambush at Occupy Central in Admiralty yesterday.
Three men, speaking in Cantonese with a local accent, swore at the Next Media founder and told him to "drop dead", witnesses said.
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One of the suspected attackers is lead away by police. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The trio then threw a few bags of animal organs at Lai's head. "They did not appear to be amateurs, hitting him right in the face from six feet away," said Ma Kee, an Occupy volunteer who saw the attack as it happened at about 4.30pm outside Lai's tent on Harcourt Road, near the main stage. "He was covered in the stinking organs afterwards."
Scuffles broke out as dozens of protesters tried to catch the attackers, Ma said. The men were said to have been bound by plastic straps before being handed over to police. One of them was sent to hospital after suffering scratches to his head.
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Occupy Central volunteer Ma Kee. Photo: SCMP Pictures
"We recognise one of them as the man who threw eggs at Long Hair [Leung Kwok-hung] earlier," said Alex Kwok Siu-kit, head of a team of marshals at the Admiralty site.
Before the attack, two women were scouting the area near Lai's tent, Kwok said. "They left after taking pictures. Two men then came up to [Leung's attacker] with the bags" and all three assaulted Lai. The tycoon later asked Kwok to help find a pair of glasses he lost in the attack.
Benny Tai at the Admiralty protest camp last week. Photo: Felix Wong
One of the key organisers of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy street protests has rejected criticism that the civil disobedience movement is undermining the city’s rule of law, saying those critics have misunderstood both the nature of law and disobedience as protest.
Benny Tai Yiu-ting, co-founder of Occupy Central, said protesters should be prepared to bear all legal liability for their actions and argued that the street blockades had a “limited” impact on general law-abidingness.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told President Xi Jinping over the weekend that the protests had seriously disrupted the city’s social order and had shaken its rule of law.
Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said that many of those taking to the streets felt equal political rights were not safeguarded by Hong Kong law.
“If law cannot resolve the factors that lead to civil disobedience… [then] civil disobedience is necessary to provide the opportunity to change the content of the law,” Tai wrote in Ming Pao.
“Civil disobedience can occur only under certain circumstances after meeting certain conditions,” he wrote. “Just because civil disobedience participants defy a court order doesn’t mean they would do the same in other situations.”
He added: “But of course, reasoning for civil disobedience does not change its unlawful nature, and this is what a real civil disobedience protester acknowledges and accepts.”
Meanwhile, bailiffs enforcing court injunctions could begin to clear makeshift barricades at the protest camps on Friday, according to a lawyer representing a taxi drivers group.
The injunctions were first granted on October 20 to Chiu Luen Public Light Bus, the Taxi Association, the Taxi Drivers and Operators Association and Goldon Investment – the owner of Citic Tower – and cover sections of Nathan Road in Mong Kok and the entrances and exits of Citic Tower in Admiralty, opposite government headquarters.
On Monday the High Court ruled that bailiffs could get help from police as they cleared the areas, and authorised police to make arrests if protesters resisted.
Phyllis Kwong Ka-yin, representing the taxi drivers’ group, said the High Court is now deciding on the details of how to execute the injunctions and it would take days to complete the process.
Kwong said that even if the injunctions were sealed on Thursday, newspaper advertisements would have to be published on Friday. Only then, or even Saturday, could bailiffs begin to execute the injunction orders.
She urged anti-Occupy groups not to get involved in any clearances as they could face civil or criminal liability.
On Wednesday morning, 40 pro-establishment lawmakers issued a statement criticising those who ignore the injunctions.
“We feel that a few people with legal background have deliberately distorted the concept of the rule of law and misled the public,” Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said.
Members include (from left) Former Secretary for Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service new Chief Executive Chua Hoi-Wai, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service Christine Fang and University of Hong Kong law lecturer Eric Cheung. Photos: SCMP
A group of academics and leaders of non-governmental organisations have set up a new group to track public opinion on the Occupy Central protests and serve as a platform for discussion on political reform.
The group, called the Civil Society Joint Action, was set up today. Its members include former secretary for civil service Joseph Wong Wing-ping, Chua Hoi-Wai, chief executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service Christine Fang and University of Hong Kong law lecturer Eric Cheung.
After the dialogue between top government officials and student leaders three weeks ago, the government said there would be a platform to discuss political reform after 2017, and that the government plans to submit a public sentiment report to Beijing the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
But the group, which noted there was still no progress on the two matters, said its goal was to produce an objective record of public opinion about the Occupy Central movement and political reform in Hong Kong.
They will be hosting public forums in Tamar Park on weekends for the next three weeks starting this Friday. They’ll also collect previous opinion polls to figure out what Hongkongers want when it comes to democracy and political reform. This will include previous poll results from Hong Kong University surveys earlier this summer.
Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the public opinion programme, is one of the organisers of this group. Law lecturer Eric Cheung says the group wants to be the platform for discussion on political reform:
“Sometimes, it seems like the protesters in the occupied areas are in their world, everyone else is in another world - and there’s not a whole lot of understanding between the two,” Cheung said.
Cheung stressed they would not take sides, and were there merely to collect the opinions of the Hong Kong public. Cheung said this means they want to hear from everyone: including protesters and the government.
“If Carrie Lam doesn’t want to come and talk right now, maybe she can send an assistant to come and listen? The first step in a dialogue is to listen, and they should understand what people in society want. We’re going through the proper channels to organise a legal venue, so the government can have no qualms about coming to listen to what people have to say. Surely they won’t say, ‘We refuse to listen.’”
Chua Hoi-Wai said the group did not have a deadline yet, but the programme is not intended to stop the protests, and will continue even if the protests areas are cleared.
Mr Justice Henry Litton said: "A civil court process was being invoked for what I feel is a public order issue." Photo: Robert Ng
A top court judge has questioned the "curious" handling of applications for injunctions to clear the Occupy protest site in Mong Kok, and described the orders themselves as "extremely odd".
Speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Justice Henry Litton, a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, also questioned why the government did not take over the lawsuit, initiated by taxi and bus operators.
The Court of First Instance on Monday renewed a temporary injunction granted three weeks earlier against pro-democracy protesters in Nathan Road.
In a rare speech on Occupy and rule-of-law issues at the University of Hong Kong yesterday, Litton said: "A civil court process was being invoked for what I feel is a public order issue."
He was "intrigued" by the actions and the fact the case was first heard on an ex parte basis, meaning the party affected was not present to defend the action.
"The process of going to a court to seek an order behind the back of a person to be affected by the order is a most drastic remedy, because the unvarying principle of common law is no one's interest should be affected without having been given an opportunity to be heard."
Only an urgent situation would justify an ex parte hearing, he added, and he questioned what the urgency was.
To find out, the judge visited Mong Kok on a rainy day. He eventually found the court order, soaked, in a plastic container. It was written only in English and was "not easily legible".
He noted that the order said nothing about how the plaintiffs would clear the site - whether bulldozers or dump trucks would be used, for example - which made it "an extremely odd order". He wondered how the plaintiffs had satisfied the court that they could execute the order, given that "anything less would demean the rule of law".
Given their insistence on urgency, Litton said he was "mystified" as to why the plaintiffs had not acted immediately.
Litton then questioned the role of the secretary for justice, whom, he noted, had not exercised his right to take over the court action to enforce the rights of the public. Instead, the court had authorised police to assist bailiffs in executing the order.
Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, a former HKU law dean, shared Litton's views and criticised the government for "using a civil process to tackle … a public order issue". He questioned whether the plaintiffs had the "financial strength to pay the 7,000 police officers" media reports said were being mobilised.
The High Court will hold a hearing today to give directions to the parties, while some protesters will seek leave to appeal.
Litton said an injunction granted to the owners of an Admiralty tower was different, as it sought to protect property rights.
Occupy site clearance may not occur till next week
More legal proceedings are lined up before bailiffs and police can move in to remove barricades in Admiralty and Mong Kok
Legal wrangling and police preparations look set to delay until early next week official action to enforce controversial court injunctions aimed at dismantling barricades at Occupy Central sites in Admiralty and Mong Kok.
The High Court permitted the force on Monday to move in and make arrests in the event of physical resistance from protesters.
But amid police preparations for a site clearance, a group of students planned to open a new front - by blocking roads near the British consulate in Admiralty.
Both protesters and the police are striving to ensure they do nothing that may see them lose legal or political credibility in the battle for the city's streets.
Lawyer Phyllis Kwong Ka-yin, who represents a taxi drivers' group that applied for an injunction to clear the Mong Kok site, yesterday warned people not to help in the execution of the court order, otherwise they could face civil or even criminal liabilities.
"Members of the public who assist bailiffs may breach laws if, for example, they clash with someone else. They can be arrested for assault," Kwong said.
"That is why I would not encourage helping the bailiffs to enforce the injunction orders."
She said the removal of protest barricades could happen as early as tomorrow, pending a hearing on the injunctions today.
The injunctions' defendants are to request more time to prepare arguments against the orders and to ask that, in the meantime, the barricades not be cleared until their case is heard.
But even if the judge decides not to grant their requests, no action could be taken before the injunction's plaintiffs ran a statement of the order in newspapers the next day, Kwong said.
Bailiffs work only on weekdays, while police need time to clarify their role with the Department of Justice, hence the orders may not be executed until early next week.
In Admiralty, Occupy protesters at the Tim Mei Avenue entrance of Citic Tower, where one of the injunctions applied, said they would give the government "no excuse" to chase them out.
"We have moved barricades blocking this entrance to elsewhere ever since the injunction was put in place," a protester said. "Traffic to the entrance can be resumed at any time… technically, there will be no excuse for the authorities to disperse us."
Then there are other protesters who plan to take over Supreme Court Road, outside the British consulate, from 4pm on Friday next week, because they see the former colonial master as having failed to support Hongkongers' pursuit of democracy. The group of students said they wanted to pressure Britain, as a signatory to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, to monitor the high degree of autonomy and democratic development promised to Hong Kong.
An event webpage has 50 people confirmed as attending. Booths at protest sites invited protesters to join the action with the message: "Keep calm and occupy British consulate." The consulate would not comment.
Meanwhile student leader Lester Shum said students would decide as soon as today whether to head to Beijing in the hope of taking their demands for democracy to state leaders.
The Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Dr Chan Kin-man say they "tentatively" plan to surrender to police.
Some of the original grandees of the Occupy movement, who have disappeared from the scene lately, are ready for a second act.
Having been upstaged by young protesters and student activists, the three "gentlemen" of Occupy Central say they want to turn themselves in.
The Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Dr Chan Kin-man say they "tentatively" plan to surrender to police. But why "tentatively"? One supposes they can always change their mind, as they frequently do. Having promised something like Occupy Central with Love and Peace, they have delivered nothing of the sort. The occupiers are neither loving nor peaceful; and they didn't occupy the Central business district either.
Indeed, many have repudiated the trio's leadership, which was non-existent to begin with. You would hope these three men would have the good grace to admit defeat and go home. But no, they say they have achieved some of their goals. When you have a shipwreck in the middle of nowhere, you can always claim that has been your destination all along. Whatever you think about the student leaders, at least they can lead a crowd and square off with government honchos on TV. That's more than you can say about those three gentlemen.
Now Shiu Ka-chun, a social work lecturer at Baptist University and an Occupy steward, says he is ready to join them in surrendering to the police. "Civil disobedience has two elements - paralysing the city's operation and self-sacrifice," he said. But Shiu complains people are unwilling to sacrifice themselves. "We have done the disruption but not many people are willing to do the latter part."
But who is asking anyone to sacrifice themselves? Police have not issued arrest warrants. You can perhaps claim to have committed a crime and demand an officer arrest you. Our gentlemen are so desperate to be seen being persecuted they are begging for an arrest.
I hate to point out the obvious. Hong Kong is a free city, so we have been dealing with protesters the way free cities do. For a short time, the world thought we were about to have a Hong Kong spring or a "colour revolution".
They mistook Hong Kong 2014 for Beijing 1989, and "one country, two systems" for communist rule.
Student protestors have not made one bad move
On other hand Fatty Tung is deeply embarrassed
Like her sense of understatement and sarcasm
Having sham consultations cannot fool the People
Both Hongkie and Sinkie Gahbraments lose credibility
The mats are made from old T-shirts. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Old T-shirts are being transformed by Occupy activists into works of art with a practical purpose – providing a little comfort for protesters sleeping on Hong Hong’s hard streets.
Pieced together on a wooden frame, the mats are the work of a group of friends already known for designing posters and stickers still visible throughout the Admiralty protest zone.
“We were thinking what else we could do after making the posters and stickers,” design graduate Ho Chan, 24, said, explaining how they came up with the idea for the mats.
“After all, everyone needs a good night’s sleep,” he said.
It took about three hours for three to four people to make a sleeping mat long enough for an adult of above-average height, he said while showing others how to do the work.
One mat featuring a yellow umbrella against a grey-scale backdrop has been on display since October 22 at “Umbrella Square” on Harcourt Road where Occupy leaders make their speeches.
Chan said he and friends pooled funds and efforts to create stickers with a minimal design using only the colours black and yellow soon after tear gas was fired on protesters on September 28.
They started making the sleeping mats on October 19 as it became clear there was going to be no early end to the mass sit-in.
Like many other Occupy protesters the South China Morning Post has talked to, Chan until now had never considered himself a social activist.
“I did not even join any of the rallies against the new town project in the northeastern New Territories,” he said, in reference to the series of protests outside the Legislative Council in June during which police were accused of using excessive force on both protesters and journalists.
“But after seeing on TV the degree of violence police used on [teenage student leader Joshua Wong, I felt that it’s now or never if we still wish to make ourselves heard.”
With no end in sight to the occupation, Chan and his friends are turning the flyover connecting Central and Admiralty into a workshop that allows everyone to lend a helping hand.
