HK governor refuses to resign, will stay till elections
Pro-democracy protesters face off with policemen as they wait for Hong Kong chief executive outside the Legislative Counsel Office, on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)
Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s embattled leader on Thursday offered to hold talks between his government and pro-democracy protesters, but said he will not accept their demand that he resign.
Chief executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters that he has asked the territory’s top civil servant to arrange talks with the protesters, who have been demanding electoral reforms.
The massive demonstrations are the biggest challenge to Beijing’s authority in Hong Kong since China took control of the former British colony in 1997. Leung made the comments at a news conference just minutes before a deadline that had been set by the protesters for him to step down.
Standing beside him, chief secretary Carrie Lam said she would seek to arrange talks with student leaders of the protest. “I hope both sides will be satisfied,” she said. “Students had wanted a public meeting but I hope that we can have flexibility to discuss details.”
Before Leung's announcement, the heads of two major universities whose students have joined others in launching the protests appeared before a jittery crowd massed in front of the entrance to the leader's office and appealed for calm.
During the day, the protesters prepared face masks, goggles while police brought in supplies of tear gas and other riot gear as tensions grew in an increasingly tense standoff outside the imposing government compound near the waterfront.
China warns HongKong of dire consequences:
Beijing: Amid raging pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, China on Thursday threw its weight behind the region’s chief executive CY Leung and warned demonstrators of “unimaginable” consequences if the standoff continues.
The support for beleaguered Leung came from the ruling Communist Party of China mouthpiece People’s Daily editorial as activists who are holding pro-democracy protests threatened to occupy government buildings if Leung does not resign.
“Occupy Central harms Hong Kong and its people. If it’s allowed to continue, the consequences would be unimaginable,” the People’s Daily warned in its front-page editorial, CNN reported.
The daily praised Leung’s handling of the situation so far in the former British colony. The central government is full of confidence in Leung and is completely satisfied with his performance, it added.
Beijing “will thus continue to strongly support Leung’s leadership of Hong Kong’s legal administration as well as the police’s handling of illegal activities”, the paper said. “This is not only for protecting national security and interests, but also for the interests of Hong Kong,” it said.
China’s smartapp is a spy:
The Chinese government might be using smartphone apps to spy on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a US security firm says. The applications are disguised as tools created by activists to protests, said the firm, Lacoon Mobile Security.
The firm said that once downloaded, they give an outsider access to the phone’s address book, call logs and other information. The identities of victims and details of the servers used “lead us to believe that the Chinese government are behind the attack,” said a Lacoon statement.
China is, along with the US and Russia, regarded as a leader in cyber warfare research. Security experts say China is a leading source of hacking attacks aimed at foreign governments and companies to computers in China.
( Source : ap/pti )
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