391 district council members call for an end to protests
Hundreds of district council members from Hong Kong have called on protesters to stop the "Occupy Central" movement. They said many major roads have been blocked for days, which has severely affected the city’s economy and social order.
"My colleagues from the district council have received a great number of complaints from local residents. The protests have made it very inconvenient to go to work or go to school. Especially for senior citizens, many of them don’t know what to do," said Yip Wing-shing, chairman of Central and Western District Council.
"The protest area in the Mong Kok is a very complicated area, which consists of many different people. Many residents say they feel afraid to go through the area on their way home, because they don’t know whether there will be clashes and if they will be affected," said Chung Kong Mo, chairman of Yau Tsim Mong Distric Council.
The 391 district council members jointly delivered a open letter to the protesters, saying although they were happy to see young people in Hong Kong showing concern about the region’s future, the Occupy Central movement was having a negative impact on people’s daily lives. The district members called for protesters to stop their activities and leave protest areas, to allow social order to return to normal.
Dialogue set for Tuesday despite Mong Kok clashes
Nearly 9,000 protesters attempted to reoccupy parts of Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district over the weekend, resulting in clashes that saw 33 arrested and 18 policemen injured.
At a press conference on Saturday, police said that demonstrators had clashed with police and resisted arrest. They condemned the demonstrators’ actions as “violent” and “illegal”.
They also said that the protesters’ actions contradicted their claims that they were behaving peacefully.
Despite the clashes, dialogue between the Hong Kong SAR government and representatives of the student protesters has been set for Tuesday, with the participation of five members from each side.
The region’s Chief Secretary, Carrie Lam on Saturday stressed the government’s sincerity toward the talks and said she was eager to have the meeting.
Confirmed as attending the meeting will be Carrie Lam herself as well as the Secretary for Justice, Rimsky Yuen and the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Raymond Tam.
Meanwhile, transit officials have reported that half of Hong Kong’s bus services have been affected by the protests.
Protesters remain at three major sites: Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and Central, despite that their numbers fluctuate in size. Attempts by the Hong Kong police to clear the roads and restore traffic have often been met with heavy resistance from the occupiers.
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In the meanwhile, London police seem to have much little patience with those who disturb public peace.
#TarpaulinRevolution: London police storm Parliament Square occupation
Published time: October 20, 2014 11:34
Screenshot from youtube by Occupy London TV
Austerity,
Clashes,
Human rights,
Opposition,
Police,
Politics,
Protest,
Rally,
UK,
Violence
Police arrested one man and others were injured after hundreds of officers applied force in attempts to evict Occupy Democracy protesters from Parliament Square on Sunday night.
Following two days of peaceful occupation and protest, dubbed the #TarpaulinRevolution and #OccupyTarpaulin on Twitter, over one hundred police officers descended on the group, using force to seize the tarpaulins making up their makeshift camp.
On social media there were reports of officers kicking protesters. One activist described the levels of force used to remove the tarpaulins as “unnecessary.”
Police claimed demonstrations had violated the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, which states that possessing items that could be used for sleeping in Parliament Square is illegal.
One protester set up a live video feed of the violence on the website Bambuser, and others quickly reported the extreme measures taken by the police.
Police issued a 30 minute warning to the activists, who were told to leave or face arrest, before they began forcibly removing the tarpaulins. The use of force caused outcry on social media, with claims that police measures were disproportionate.
Self-styled radical Russell Brand was spotted amongst the crowd delivering pizza, eager to shed the label of “bogus revolutionary” given to him by Piers Morgan in a recent Twitter spat.
The protests were initially staged in solidarity with Occupy Democracy in Hong Kong. Scenes of Chinese police brutality have sparked outrage on social media.
Protesters accused Prime Minister David Cameron of hypocrisy. They pointed out that Cameron had spoken out in defense of the Hong Kong protesters last Wednesday, yet had employed force to quell domestic protests.
Cameron’s support for the Hong Kong movement came after footage was released on the October 14 of Hong Kong police applying force to control demonstrators.
One activist’s blog commented, “If a progressive movement can gauge the effect it’s having from the response of the State, then the Unions should be ashamed of themselves, and the Occupy movement should be cheering loudly.”
Still surrounded, some occupiers dragged away, hundreds of police
#parliamentsquare #occupydemocracy
11:24 AM - 18 Oct 2014
