Political tensions continue to rise in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy legislators are promising to blockChina’s plan for electoral reform in the territory. Theplan calls for electing a city leader from a list ofcandidates approved by the central government inBeijing.
Democracy activists say they will travel throughoutHong Kong over the next several weeks. They want toconvince people to support the direct election of HongKong’s chief executive.
Last year, pro-democracy activists shut down parts of the city for months.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong’s government released aplan for election reform that is almost exactly the sameas one proposed by China. It lets people vote for thecity’s leader. But they can only choose from a list ofcandidates chosen by a committee loyal to the Chinesecentral government.
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Pro-democracy lawmaker Ronny Tong sits among seats filled with yellow crosses placed after lawmakers walked out of the legislative chamber to protest against Chief Secretary Carrie Lam who presented details of a Beijing-backed election plan, in Hong Kong. |
Emily Lau is the head of Hong Kong’s Democracy Party. She says she andother pro-democracy lawmakers will not permit the plan to be approved.
“I think the proposal by the Hong Kong government is not good enough. It doesn’t meet even basic demands of a genuine democratic election. So we are going to vote against it. I think many of the pro-democracy legislators in the legislative council are going to vote against it.”
After Hong Kong’s government released its plan, pro-democracy legislatorsleft the city’s parliament building. Most of them wore black shirts with a yellowcross on the front to protest the government’s election plans.
Two-thirds of the city’s legislators must vote for the plan if it is to become law. For that to happen, China and the Hong Kong government would have toconvince at least four of the pro-democracy legislators to support the plan.
Hong Kong’s chief executive C.Y. Leung recently spoke to reporters. Hewarned the city’s voters that, if their legislators do not support Hong Kong’selection plan, it might be a few years before a new plan can become law.
But many Hong Kong citizens -- especially young people -- say if thegovernment’s plan becomes law, it would weaken the pro-democracymovement.
Pa Sha is a protestor.
“Well, I think the best scenario is that it will be vetoed, to show that thepeople of Hong Kong will not be cheated by this fake proposal, fake reform.”
The pro-democracy movement has broken up into different groups sincehundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Hong Kong last year.Many supporters have left the Federation of Students, which was one of themain organizers of the demonstrations. They disagree with the direction of themovement. Some students say they want to take stronger action. They haveprotested near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China by shouting at andthreatening Chinese travelers and shoppers visiting Hong Kong.
Although the students and other protestors disagree about methods, themovement appears to have support among people who live in Hong Kong. Arecent study of public opinion found that fewer than half of the city’s residentssupport the government’s plan. It was least popular among Hong Kong’s well-educated young people. The study found 55 percent of those who have atleast a college education oppose the plan. Sixty-three percent of thosebetween the ages of 18 and 29 oppose it.
No large protests have been announced. But demonstrations could beginagain if pro-democracy legislators switch their vote and the plan becomeslaw. Joseph Cheung is a professor at the City University of Hong Kong.
“If some pro-democracy legislators have been pressured to change theirposition and endorse the political reform bill, it is expected that there will bepretty large-scale protests initiated by the student groups in general.”
Recently, eight people were arrested during a small pro-democracy protest in the Hong Kong neighborhood of Mong Kok. Television reports showed policeusing pepper spray and sticks against a crowd of protesters who were tryingto block traffic.
I’m Jim Tedder.
Shannon van Sant reported this story from Hong Kong. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.
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Words in This Story
genuine – adj. actual, real or true; not false
scenario – n. a description of what could possibly happen
veto – v. to reject or refuse to approve
endorse – v. to publicly support or announce approval of
initiate – v. to cause something to begin; to start something
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