Defiant Hong Kong protesters demand leader steps down

3^min

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged the streets of Hong Kong on Wednesday, some of them jeering National Day celebrations, and students threatened to ramp up demonstrations if the city's pro-Beijing leader did not step down.

There was little sign of momentum flagging on the fifth day of the "Occupy Central" protest, whose aim has been to occupy sections of the city, including around the Central financial district, in anger at a Chinese decision to limit voters' choices in a 2017 leadership election.

Many had feared police would use force to move crowds before Wednesday's celebrations marking the anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Those fears proved unfounded, and police stayed in the background.

The crowds have brought large sections of the Asian financial hub to a standstill, disrupting businesses from banks to jewellers. There were no reports of trouble on Wednesday, but witnesses said the number of protesters swelled in the evening.

Hong Kong student leader Lester Shum issued an ultimatum to the city's leader Leung Chun-ying: step down or else face wider protests.

"We will escalate the action if CY Leung doesn't resign by tonight or tomorrow night. We will occupy more government facilities and offices," he told reporters, without elaborating.

"I believe the government is trying to buy more time. They want to use tactics such as sending some people to create chaos so that they would have a good reason to disperse the crowd."

Riot police had used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges at the weekend to try to quell the unrest, but tensions have eased since then as both sides appeared ready to wait it out, at least for now.

The protests are the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule of the former British colony in 1997. They pose one of the biggest political challenges for Beijing since it violently crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.


REUTERS