Hong Kong protesters prepare for the long haul
Hong Kong protesters prepare for the long haul
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters extended a blockade of Hong Kong streets yesterday, stockpiling supplies and erecting makeshift barricades ahead of what some fear may be a push by police to clear the roads before Chinese National Day.
Riot police shot pepper spray and tear gas at protesters at the weekend, but by yesterday evening they had almost completely withdrawn from the downtown Admiralty district except for an area around the government headquarters.
On the eve of today's anniversary of the Communist Party's foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, crowds poured into central districts of the Asian financial hub, near where National Day festivities are scheduled to take place.
Rumours have rippled through crowds of protesters that police could be preparing to move in again, as the government has vowed to go ahead with celebrations.
"Many powerful people from the mainland will come to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government won't want them to see this, so the police must do something," Sui-ying Cheng, 18, a freshman at Hong Kong University's School of Professional and Continuing Education, said of the National Day holiday.
"We are not scared. We will stay here tonight. Tonight is the most important," she said.
Student leaders have given Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying an ultimatum to come out and address the protesters before midnight yesterday, threatening to escalate action in the next few days to occupy more government facilities, buildings and public roads if he fails to do so.
The protesters, mostly students, are demanding full democracy and have called on Leung to step down after Beijing ruled a month ago that it would vet candidates wishing to run for Hong Kong's leadership in 2017.
While Leung has said Beijing would not back down in the face of protests it has branded illegal, he also said Hong Kong police would be able to maintain security without help from People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the mainland.
"When a problem arises in Hong Kong, our police force should be able to solve it. We don't need to ask to deploy the PLA," Beijing-backed Leung told reporters at a briefing yesterday.
The protests are widely expected to escalate today to coincide with National Day celebrations.
"I don't know what the police or government will do to me, but I am 100 percent sure I need to come out (tonight)," said Ken To, the 35-year-old manager of a restaurant in the densely packed Mong Kok residential district.