1 hour ago - Hundreds of demonstrators ended overnight protests in central Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, after police carried out mass arrests of at ...
1 hour ago - After
a massive protest held in Hong Kong to commemorate the 17th anniversary
of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule, police ...
1 hour ago - Police arrested more than 500 people holding an overnight sit-in after ... at almost 100,000, while organizers put the total at more than 500,000.
2 hours ago - HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong police have arrested more than 500 people holding a sit-in a day after tens of thousands in the former British ...
Oct 1, 2011 - NEW YORK - Police reopened the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening after more than 500 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested for ...
CBS/APJuly 1, 2014, 11:13 PM
More than 500 arrested at Hong Kong pro-democracy sit-in
Protesters
are taken away by police officers after hundreds of protesters staged a
peaceful sit-ins overnight on a street in the financial district in
Hong Kong Wednesday, July 2, 2014, following a huge rally to show their
support for democratic reform.
Kin Cheung, AP
HONG KONG -- Police here arrested more than
500 people holding a sit-in a day after tens of thousands in the former
British colony joined a massive march to push for democracy.
Anger
at mainland China has never been greater after Beijing warned recently
it holds the ultimate authority over the freewheeling capitalist
enclave.
That's despite a mini-constitution that gives the city a high degree of autonomy until 2047.
Police
said 511 people were arrested Wednesday for unlawful assembly and
preventing police from carrying out their duties. They were holding an
overnight sit-in after the rally.
Police said 98,600 people joined
Tuesday's rally at its peak, while organizers said 510,000 turned out,
the highest estimates in a decade. Hong Kong University researchers put
the number at between 154,000 and 172,000.
The Reuters news agency
says, "Hundreds of police forcibly removed kicking and screaming
protesters" in what it says "could be the biggest challenge yet to China
which resumed control over the former British colony in 1997."
Reuters
adds that, "Many of the more than 1,000 protesters linked arms in a bid
to resist efforts to remove them but they were taken away one at a
time, in some cases by three or four police, as activists kicked,
screamed and punched before being bundled on to buses."
Protesters
demand a police officer, right, stay away from them during sit-ins on a
street in the financial district in Hong Kong Wednesday, July 2, 2014.
Kin Cheung, AP
The
arrests came after the rally, when two student groups held a sit-in
overnight to "occupy" a street in the city's financial district, vowing
to remain until 8 a.m.
On Tuesday, peaceful crowds carried banners
and posters urging democracy and filled half of a broad boulevard as
they marched in sweltering heat and occasional rain through
skyscraper-lined streets to the financial district. Thousands of police
kept watch and ordered the city's iconic trolleys to shut down along the
boulevard to reduce overcrowding.
Some protesters chanted, "Our own government, our own choice," while others called for Leung to step down.
Some
groups along the protest route sang a Cantonese song based on "Can you
hear the people sing?" from the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's
novel "Les Miserables." The song, with rewritten lyrics referring to
universal suffrage, has become an anthem for Hong Kong protesters.
July
1, a public holiday marking the handover of Hong Kong from London to
Beijing, has become an annual day of protest. This year a focal point
for demonstrators' anger was a policy document, or "white paper,"
released last month by China's Cabinet that said Hong Kong's high degree
of autonomy is not inherent but is authorized by the central
government.
"After seeing the white paper's content, we should be
worried," said Jeff Kwok, 28, an export firm employee waiting at the
rally's starting point in Victoria Park, where six soccer fields and
surrounding areas were jammed with people. "The central government,
they're trying to tell the Hong Kong people that they are the host
country and Hong Kong is just one of their regions. They're trying to
tell us they have absolute power to rule us."
Kwok complained that
Beijing doesn't respect the principle of "one country, two systems"
under which Hong Kong is allowed to retain control over much of its own
affairs.
Another protester, Kennie Chan, lamented that Beijing was less restrained now in exerting its influence over Hong Kong.
"In
the past, it seemed like they were doing it step by step, but now, it's
obvious that they cannot stand Hong Kong people. We are not obedient
anymore, and are resisting more and more," said the 30-year-old, who
works as a stage manager.
Ahead of the rally, one group of
protesters burned a copy of the white paper outside a ceremony attended
by officials to mark the handover.
The protest comes days after
nearly 800,000 residents voted in an informal referendum aimed at
bolstering support for full democracy. Beijing denounced the referendum
as a political farce.
China's Communist leaders have pledged to
allow Hong Kongers to vote for the city's leader by 2017. However,
they've rejected calls to allow the public to name candidates, insisting
instead that they be vetted by a Beijing-friendly committee like the
one that has hand-picked all leaders since the handover.
Leung,
Hong Kong's leader, tried to soothe tensions, saying in a speech that
he'll do his "utmost to forge a consensus" on implementing universal
suffrage on schedule. But the government later released a statement
saying it is unlikely that public nominations will be allowed because
it's legally "highly controversial."
The Tiananmen
(simplified Chinese: 天安门; traditional Chinese: 天安門; pinyin:
Tiān'ānmén), or Gate of Heavenly Peace, is a famous monument in Beijing,
the ...
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