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HK lawmakers dragged from chamber as leader heckled for second day
HONG KONG, Oct 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pro-democracy lawmakers were dragged
out of Hong Kong’s legislature by security guards on Thursday after they
heckled the city’s pro-Beijing leader for a second day running, the latest
outburst of political rancour in the strife-torn city.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam has faced an outpouring of anger from her
opponents since the legislature opened its doors for a new session on
Wednesday, three months after the building was trashed by masked protesters.
Lam was unable to give a State of the Union-style policy speech on
Wednesday after pro-democracy lawmakers, who form a minority on the pro-
Beijing-stacked legislature, repeatedly interrupted her.
Instead, she was forced to deliver the address in a pre-recorded video.
Lam returned to the Legislative Council on Thursday to answer questions
from lawmakers about the content of that policy speech.
But chaos erupted once again as her political opponents chanted slogans
and were dragged one by one from the chamber.
Hong Kong has been rocked by the worst political unrest in decades.
Millions have taken to the streets, initially against a now-dropped bid by
its leaders to allow extraditions to the authoritarian Chinese mainland.
But after Beijing and Lam took a hard line, the movement snowballed into a
broader push for democracy and police accountability.
Violence has escalated on both sides of the political divide with hardcore
protesters wielding petrol bombs and stones, and police responding with ever-
increasing amounts of tear gas, rubber bullets and even live rounds in recent
weeks.
Vigilante attacks have also flourished.
A leading figure within Hong Kong’s democracy movement said Thursday he
was recovering after being set upon by a gang of hammer-wielding thugs, the
latest assault on Beijing critics in Hong Kong.
Jimmy Sham, one of the protest movement’s most recognisable faces, was
left lying in a pool of his own blood late Wednesday after he was jumped by
around five men in the district of Mong Kok. “I will continue to fight for
the five demands in a peaceful, rational and non-violent manner,” Sham wrote
on Facebook from his hospital bed.
– Street justice –
Sham is the main spokesman of the Civil Human Rights Front, a group which
advocates non-violence and organised a series of record-breaking, peaceful
marches earlier this summer.
Hardcore pro-democracy protesters have also increasingly meted out their
own street justice, beating people who vocally disagree with their goals or
are viewed to be government loyalists.
Hong Kong’s instability is fuelled by years of growing fears Beijing is
eroding the city’s unique freedoms, contrary to a deal that outlined Hong
Kong’s 1997 return to China from British colonial rule.
Lam, who was appointed by a pro-Beijing stacked committee and has
historically low approval ratings, has struggled to end the political crisis.
Wednesday’s policy speech was billed as an attempt to win hearts and minds
after four months of seething pro-democracy protests.
But it was heavily criticised both by opponents and even her allies for
offering little in the way of a substantive political solution.
Instead, Lam focused on economic gripes, vowing to increase housing and
land supply in a city that has one of the least affordable property markets
in the world, and announcing a handful of subsidies.
But she gave no political concessions to the democracy movement and said
progress could only be made once violence from protesters ends.
Activists have said they will only end their huge rallies if core demands
are met, including an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the
more than 2,500 people arrested and fully free elections.
Both Lam and Beijing have repeatedly dismissed those demands and say Hong
Kong’s freedoms are being protected.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1116 hrs