HK protesters mark a month since tear-gas attack

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters marked a month in the streets since the police used tear gas in a failed attempt to disperse them as leaders debated whether to reopen discussions with the government.

The students leading the protests for democracy are suggesting direct negotiations with senior Chinese Communist Party officials as a way to end a stand-off with the local government. Protest leaders said on Tuesday that they want the Hong Kong government to convey their demands for greater democracy to Beijing. If that is not possible, then they want to arrange a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other officials so they can get their views across.

They laid out their demands in an open letter to Hong Kong’s No 2 official after the students and the government held talks last week that were mostly fruitless.

Protesters on Tuesday evening turned up wearing goggles, face masks and yellow umbrellas and marked a moment of silence at 5.57pm local time, when the police shot the first of 87 tear-gas canisters in the Admiralty district on Sept 28, said a posting on the Facebook page of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, one of the movement’s leading groups.

Protesters are debating their next move after a vote on the movement’s direction was shelved over the weekend. Talks between the government and student leaders on Oct 21 failed to yield an immediate solution, with the city’s No 2 official offering to send China a report reflecting the demands of the demonstrators. “We are now entering the second half of this movement,” Mr Joshua Wong, leader of another student-protest faction, Scholarism, said on Monday. “Only when we know details of the report, will we have a chance for a compromise.”

China’s decision on Aug 31 to vet candidates for the 2017 leadership election sparked the demonstrations, as protesters say the ruling favours pro-Beijing candidates.

Some people are concerned that the protests, the biggest challenge to Chinese sovereignty in Hong Kong, may be leading China to withhold approval of a trading link between the city and Shanghai after speculation that it would start this month.

The Chinese government is “very supportive of the programme, which is important for Hong Kong’s economic development and our country’s financial development,” the city’s leader Mr Leung Chun-ying told reporters yesterday. “I will continue to work on the programme. Hopefully, the connect programme can start as soon as possible,” Mr Leung said.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd’s chief executive officer Charles Li said on Oct 26 that he would not be surprised if the protests were among factors behind the delay.

The report offered by the government and multi-party talks for reform of the 2017 election were the items on the shelved poll. China has shown no signs of budging in the face of the protests. The Hong Kong government has said civic nomination is against the Basic Law, the city’s Constitution, which provides for a 1,200-person nominating committee to screen candidates. Mr Leung has said that method of selecting the members of the committee may be open for discussion.

High Court Judge Thomas Au on Monday extended three interim civil injunctions awarding plaintiffs the right to remove barricades and preventing protesters from interfering with their removal.

Still, protesters persist. “Dispersing or retreating now is not an option as we have not achieved anything since the movement started,” said hotel worker Mr Gordon Lee, 24. BLOOMBERG