Will Hong Kong’s leaders listen to the people’s demands for democracy? If a government report on last year’s pro-democracy protests is anything to go by, the answer is probably not.
The report, issued Tuesday, is part of a promise to transmit the protesters’ views to Beijing. It amounted to little more than a day-by-day chronology of the protests, with some important omissions. Also missing was an explanation of the demonstrators’ objections to the proposed system for electing the Chief Executive in 2017 that would allow Beijing to control the nominations.
Meanwhile, police are steadily arresting participants in last year’s protests, including at least two 14-year-old children the authorities tried to remove from their parents’ custody. Protest organizers have been banned from traveling to China and Macau, and one was briefly prevented from returning to Hong Kong from Taiwan. This hard line seems to be directed from Beijing, as evidenced by mainland officials’ comments that Hong Kong people need to be “re-enlightened.”
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