By Sarah Wu,
and Jessie Pang HONG
KONG
Pro-democracy lawmakers in
Hong Kong heckled the city’s embattled leader and called for her to step down
on Thursday during a legislative session that was repeatedly suspended as
several politicians were manhandled out of the chamber.
It was
the second day of chaos in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council as leader Carrie Lam
tried to answer questions about her annual policy address, which she was forced
to deliver by video link on Wednesday after similar disruption in the assembly.
The turmoil
in the legislature underscores the deepening political rift in the city, with
no end in sight to the often violent anti-government protests that began in
opposition to an extradition bill but have evolved into a broad pro-democracy
movement.
In the
latest street violence, masked assailants wielding knives and hammers attacked the
leader of one the biggest pro-democracy groups in the Chinese-ruled city on
Wednesday.
Rights
group Amnesty International urged authorities to investigate what it described
as a horrifying attack that would send a chilling signal.
Lam, who
is backed by China’s government, announced measures on Wednesday to tackle the
city’s chronic housing shortage in her address after she was jeered in the
chamber.
Again on
Thursday, pro-democracy lawmakers shouted for Lam to resign, saying she had
blood on her hands.
They also
called on her to address protesters’ key demands - something her policy address
largely ignored.
About a
dozen members of the assembly were ejected, shouting and waving placards as
security guards marched them out.
Lam stood
silently amid the ruckus, offering no response to calls for her resignation and
a calm defense of her policies.
“I hope the
lawmakers can understand one policy address can’t help us jump out of our
mindset,” Lam said, then pointed to housing reforms and living and transport subsidies
announced on Wednesday.
“I have mentioned
that we will be humble, listen to different voices and up an expert commission
to find a way out of the current situation we are facing,” she said.
The Asian financial
hub has been rocked by more than four months of sometimes violent protests in
its worst crisis in decades, posing the biggest popular challenge to Chinese
President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
What
began as opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill has evolved into a
pro-democracy movement fanned by fears that China is stifling freedoms
guaranteed by a “one country, two systems” formula adopted when Britain
returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Lam
offered no direct olive branch to the pro-democracy protesters in her policy
address and explicitly rejected two of five central protester demands -
universal suffrage and amnesty for those charged during demonstrations.
She
instead hoped to ease resentment by focusing on the hot-button issue of housing
costs.
Pro-democracy
lawmaker Claudia Mo condemned Wednesday’s attack on Jimmy Sham, head of the
Civil Human Rights Front.
“We can’t
help feeling that this entire thing is part of a plan to shed blood at Hong
Kong’s peaceful protests,” Mo told reporters outside the legislature.
It was
the second such attack on Sham.
His
group, which organized million-strong marches in June, plans a march on Sunday
in the district of Kowloon, but authorities have not confirmed it will be
allowed.
He was
left in a pool of blood on the footpath after being set upon by an estimated
five men in the gritty Mong Kok district on the Kowloon peninsula.
Joshua
Rosenzweig, head of Amnesty’s East Asia regional office, said the attack had to
be investigated to send a clear message that targeting activists will have
consequences,” said
“Anything
less would send a chilling signal that such attacks are tolerated by the
authorities,” he said in a statement.
Police
have vowed to investigate.
No comments:
Post a Comment