The mass protests in Hong Kong, partially under the aegis of the “Occupy Central” movement, began on September 28, 2014, when thousands of students and other protesters set up camp in Admiralty, Mong Kok, and other areas of Hong Kong. Their mission: to protest Beijing’s plan for the 2017 chief executive election, which critics argue would restrict nominations to a small group of candidates hand-picked by the Chinese Communist Party. The protests attracted tens of thousands of people at the onset but slowly dwindled over the next two months. When Hong Kong police finally cleared out the major protest sites in mid-December,democracy activists vowed to regroup and continue their efforts.
Less than a month after the protests came to an end, the consequences are beginning to unfold. For one, police began strictly patrolling former protest areas, refusing to allow any signs of support for the movement (whether sidewalk drawings or posters) to reappear. In one particularly egregious case, a 14-year-old girl was arrested for drawing chalk flowers on the so-called “Lennon Wall,” a wall outside the Central Government Offices that was covered in post-it notes during the protests.
Hong Kong is pursuing legal action against protesters as well. Over 30 protest leaders, including the Occupy Central founders, student leader Joshua Wong, and media mogul Jimmy Lai, have been told to report to police headquarters for arrest on charges of unlawful assembly. Early indications suggest at least two student leaders (Lester Shum and Joshua Wong) will be charged with contempt of court. A government prosecutor said the protesters had violated an injunction requiring them to stay away from protest sites, and in so doing had “damaged the administration of justice.”
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