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The Hong Kong Government Calls Off Talks With Student Leaders

At a press conference this evening Carrie Lam , Hong Kong's Chief Secretary, was supposed to announce the details of the talks between government representatives and student leaders which were scheduled for tomorrow. Instead, she surprisingly declared that the administration had decided to cancel the meeting altogether.  “ The talk is based on two conditions , " she said. " First the discussion must be within the framework of the decision made by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee . Second it must not be linked to the Occupy movement . Unfortunately, the protesters rejected the rational proposal and went back to their old position. " They now insist on public nomination and to abolish the decision made by the NPCSC . They also link the dialogue with the Occupy movement and even said the movement would last until the talks produce a result [they want] . This is sacrificing public good for their political demands, and is against public interes

Occupy Central Updates: CY Leung Accused of Pocketing Money From Australian Firm, University Lecturer Attacked by 'Patriotic' Mainland Chinese Student, and other news

According to The Age , an Australian newspaper, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying   received a HK$49.9 million payout from an Australian firm. Leung did not disclose the sum when he assumed office in 2012, claims the newspaper.

What if Beijing Granted Hong Kong Genuine Universal Suffrage?

Over the past few years, a battle has erupted in Hong Kong over the future of the former British colony which was handed over to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997 and became a Special Administrative Region (SAR). According to the "One Country, Two Systems" model proposed by Deng Xiaoping, Hong Kong was to maintain a high degree of autonomy as well as the freedoms inherited by the colonial state.  According to the Basic Law  of the SAR, promulgated in 1990 by the PRC government and put into effect after the handover, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong " shall be the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and shall represent the Region ". He " shall be accountable to the Central People's Government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the provisions of this law ."  The function of Chief Executive basically replaced that of the British governor in colonial times. But while the governor was

Dozens of Mainland Chinese Detained by Police For Supporting Hong Kong's Occupy Central

Since September 28 at least 34 people have been detained and 60 people have been questioned by the police in mainland China for sharing images and news of Hong Kong's Occupy Central or showing support for it. As the " Umbrella Revolution " unfolded in Hong Kong, the Communist government and its media apparatus have been trying to insulate the mainland from the outside world, leading to a sharp increase of censorship activities. According to Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch (갑ē”Ÿč§‚åƟ), the Hunanese activist Ou Biaofeng (꬧å½Ŗå³°) was arrested on October 1. A squad of Zhuzhou Internal Security Bureau broke open the door of his house while he was still in bed. They questioned him about some pictures he had posted online in which he was seen as shaving his head in support of Occupy Central (the initiators of Occupy Central had shaven their heads at the beginning of September to show their "determination to fight for true democracy"). " Because I shave

Triad Involvement in Anti-Occupy Central Clashes Confirmed

After anti-Occupy groups attacked pro-democracy protesters on Friday and Saturday, injuring several demonstrators, many wondered whether these assaults, which appeared well-organised and planned in advance, were the work of triad members . Yesterday at a press conference the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong  Lai Tung-kwok (é»Žę£Ÿåœ‹) confirmed that triad members were involved in the clashes.  TIME: Hong Kong Government Accused of Using Triads to Attack Student Protesters: The deputy chairman of the Ho... http://t.co/YhHViEK39S — Hong Kong Stream (@hkstream) October 4, 2014 Kwok said that the government severely condemns the violent behaviour of some individuals, and confirmed that the police had arrested 19 suspects, 8 of whom have triad links. They allegedly assaulted demonstrators during clashes in Mong Kok, a popular shopping district. According to the 'China Times', some of the thugs may have been taxi or minibus drivers with triad affiliation. 

Hong Kong's Occupy Central Turned Violent as Thugs Attacked Occupiers

Hong Kong protesters beaten and bloodied as thugs attack sit-in http://t.co/2XzsWnvAk6 pic.twitter.com/RKcvBSnIhV — Guardian World (@guardianworld) October 3, 2014 Yesterday was a sad day for Hong Kong. I really love this city. Every time I go there, its atmosphere and beauty, its energy and uniqueness mesmerize me. But the contradictions of the post-1997 settlement are coming to the surface now and threaten to change the ex-colony forever.   The images we have seen yesterday are shocking, and to a certain extent unexpected. I was there on the first day of Occupy Central. The tension was palpable. People seemed optimistic, but how to forget what happened in 1989? Who could know whether the leadership in Beijing would react the same way and the soldiers of the PLA would storm out of their barracks to put down the demonstrations?  However, no one expected that thugs would do the dirty job of scaring off the protesters. Yesterday, men who oppose Occupy Central attacked

UPDATES: Is Beijing Using Thugs to Intimidate Occupy Central Demonstrators?

Clashes have erupted between Occupy Central demonstrators and pro-Beijing groups. A woman speaking Mandarin was seen giving orders to men who attacked protesters. Are pro-Communist forces in Hong Kong using thugs to scare Occupy Central supporters? PICTURED: Disorder in Mong Kok as anti-protesters confront protesters http://t.co/RmZuwQm3I2 pic.twitter.com/PLhTJGWp8l — SCMP News (@SCMP_News) October 3, 2014 This is difficult to say and impossible to prove (that's where the cleverness of this strategy lies). However, it can be proved that Beijing has been using this kind of tactics in Taiwan, where the so-called ' White Wolf ', a former leader of a criminal syndicate, meddled in this year's Sunflower Movement protests to intimidate opponents of China-Taiwan reunification.

Chinese Activist Arrested For Posting Pictures of Hong Kong's Occupy Central

Wang Long, a 26-year-old Chinese activist, was arrested in Shenzhen because he posted pictures of Hong  Kong's Occupy Central on Chinese media. He was detained for " picking quarrels and provoking trouble ”. At least 3 people have been so far detained on the mainland because they posted photos of the protests in Hong Kong. Wang Long had already hit the headlines earlier this month when he sued China Unicom , a state-owned telecom provider, for denying access to Google websites and services. After the Occupy Central campaign was launched by Benny Tai on September 28, thousands of people have joined the demonstrations. The images of the protests have been shared by millions of people all over the world, but not in mainland China, where censorship has been at work to prevent the Chinese people from seeing what is really happening in Hong Kong.