Three protest leaders, from right, Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chu Yiu-ming walk towards the police station in Hong Kong
Three founders of a civil disobedience campaign that helped spark Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests were turned away by police yesterday after trying to surrender in a bid to bring to an end the increasingly violent street demonstrations.
Professors Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Chan Kin-man and the Rev. Chu Yiu-ming haven’t been charged, but authorities say protests that have blocked streets in the Asian financial center for more than two months are illegal.
In a statement, they had said their move to surrender was a message that they were ready to respect the rule of law. “To surrender is not to fail, it is a silent denunciation of a heartless government,” they said.
The attempted surrender was likely to have little influence on student protesters, who are continuing to occupy two protest sites after a violent night of clashes with police earlier this week as they tried to surround city government headquarters.
The three democracy movement leaders were joined by dozens of supporters also planning to turn themselves in, as well as a crowd of jeering people calling for them to be jailed.
Tai said the police took down their personal details, and asked them to sign a form declaring which crimes they have committed. After ticking a box for unauthorized public assembly, the three men left the police station.
“Later we may be arrested or prosecuted for more serious offenses,” Tai told reporters after leaving the police station. “Let’s wait and see.”
The trio founded Occupy Central with Love and Peace, which aimed to shut down streets in the financial hub to press for greater democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese city.
But their campaign was overtaken by student protesters, who make up the bulk of the activists and who kick started their own protest by occupying the streets outside the government complex. In response, the Occupy Central founders scrapped their original plan and announced they were joining the students on Sept. 28.
“The police will follow up and conduct an investigation based on the information provided by those who turned themselves in,” it said in a statement yesterday. As of 4:30 p.m., 24 people had surrendered themselves, it said. AP/Bloomberg
british officials condemn beijing over hong kong
British lawmakers have condemned China for blocking a parliamentary fact-finding trip to Hong Kong. The Chinese government has prevented representatives of Britain’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee from going to Hong Kong as tensions rise over ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations there. Committee Chairman Richard Ottaway said Tuesday the Chinese decision amounts to an attack on the people of the free world. He said China was failing to act like a responsible member of the Group of 20. Former foreign secretary Malcom Rifkind told Parliament that China’s actions violate its agreement with Britain for the 1997 handover of the former colony. They spoke at an emergency debate in Parliament called to deal with the deteriorating relations between the two countries.
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