Challenges for Democracy in Latin America | 2014 Forum 2000
This discussion was part of the 18th annual Forum 2000 Conference, Democracy and Its Discontents, held in Prague, Oct. 1215, 2014. http://www.forum2000.cz/en/projects/forum-2000-conference...
By: Forum 2000
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Challenges for Democracy in Latin America | 2014 Forum 2000 - Video
Hong Kong (AFP) - Fresh clashes broke out in Hong Kong Friday night as demonstrators attempted to retake a protest camp partially cleared by police earlier in the day jeopardising talks to end weeks of mass democracy rallies
Officers used pepper spray and batons to beat back activists as they tried to reoccupy a busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district that had been host to a protest camp for nearly three weeks, an AFP reporter on the scene saw.
It is the third consecutive night violence has broken out after a fortnight of comparative calm in a development that risks sinking only recently resurrected plans to hold talks between student leaders and the city's Beijing-backed authorities.
The Asian financial hub has been rocked by demonstrations for nearly three weeks -- some of which drew crowds tens of thousands strong -- calling both for full democracy and the resignation of the city's leader Leung Chun-ying.
Protesters have held sit-ins at three major intersections causing significant disruption to a city usually known for its stability and presenting Beijing with one of the most significant challenges to its rule since the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
China has insisted that Leung's successor must be vetted by a loyalist committee before standing for election in 2017, a proposal protesters have dismissed as a "fake democracy".
Earlier in the day officers had significantly reduced the size of the Mongkok camp -- the second largest after the main protest site opposite the government's headquarters on the other side of Victoria Harbour -- in a swift dawn raid that saw no resistance put up by protesters.
The site had previously seen clashes between demonstrators and masked government loyalists earlier in the month.
Throughout Friday demonstrators managed to hold on to one side of a multi-lane road where the camp had been located. Police then struggled to maintain order as crowds of pro-democracy supporters began to swell during the evening.
Violence broke out around 8pm (1200 GMT) after several protesters tried to push through a police cordon around the cleared protest camp which lay at a busy intersection in district that had seen frequent clashes between demonstrators and masked government loyalists.
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Hong Kong police swoop in on democracy protest site
Hong Kongs chief executive CY Leung broke a long silence today, saying he is happy to talk with student protest leaders next week, but that they may not be happy with his bottom line position: No real democracy is possible in Hong Kong.
Mr. Leung spoke to reporters today after refusing to appear before the city's 70-member legislative body amid roiling passions on the streets, where Occupy-style protesters have set up small tent areas to continue to press for free and fair elections in 2017.
Leung said the most constructive path forward is to sit down and listen to the students what we can do together. But he said that his government is constrained from serious political reform by laws governing Hong Kong, a former British colony, since its handover to China in 1997.
"The Hong Kong government cannot make something that is not in the Basic Law possible, Leung said. Politics is the art of the possible and we have to draw a line between possibilities and impossibilities."
Michael Davis, a constitutional scholar at Hong Kong University close to the leaders of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, one of several protest groups that emerged this summer, described Leungs statement as ridiculous.
He is saying, I can talk to you only if you understand I cant recognize any of what you are protesting about," he says. This man [Leung] is supposed to represent the people of Hong Kong. But what he does is Beijings bidding. He is not showing himself to be a voice for the city.
Mr. Davis said student protest leaders are now debating whether to meet with Leung and talk freely about their views or not to meet at all.
The protests are entering their 20thday and tensions remain high as police continue to take down barricades and tents and have been using pepper spray and batons often in predawn operations. A video of police beating a protester Wednesday went viral and led to the suspension of the officers involved. Sources describe some "protest fatigue" among students, largely because their scattered downtown sit-ins are daily and intensive, unlike the familiar large marches.
The unresolved standoff is a challenge to China, both in terms of image and of fears in the ruling party that the populist revolt could spread. Speaking in Moscow, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang this week compared Hong Kongs Umbrella Revolution to color revolutions in places like Ukraine and Tunisia, and blamed the West.
Some Western nations are now supporting the opposition parties of Hong Kong and their goal is to launch a so-called 'color revolution' in Hong Kong," he told Russian reporters.
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Hong Kong leader confesses that real democracy is 'impossible'
HONG KONG Police cleared a pro-democracy camp at a key intersection before dawn Friday, a day after Hong Kongs leader said he is ready to start talks with protesters but rejected in advance any major concessions.
The raid showed the quick-strike strategies of security forces seeking to regain control of the streets after three weeks of demonstrations which began in opposition to Beijings rules for Hong Kong elections, but later expanded into wider challenges to Chinas control over the former British colony.
Although authorities appeared to make another gain in the showdowns for streets and plazas, the protesters have faced crackdowns before and managed to regroup.
Protest leaders also said the clearance casts doubt on the governments sincerity to engage in talks.
If the government does not agree with the students position, it can rebut them during the dialogue, said a statement from Occupy Central, one of the protest organizers. It is unreasonable for the government to require the students to first abandon their position before engaging in dialogue.
Hong Kongs embattled chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, announced at a news conference Thursday that the government is ready to begin discussing universal suffrage with student activists. (Hong Kong Government Information Services Department/YouTube)
Hundreds of police, wearing helmets and brandishing riot shields and batons, stormed the camp in the congested Mong Kok neighborhood, across the harbor from the heart of the movement near government headquarters.
The nighttime raid came as many protesters slept in dozens of tents or under tarpaulin sheets. The protesters retreated without resisting, but later some trickled back to the site. No major force was used, according to witness statements reported by news agencies.
Traffic returned to normal after police removed the barricades, tents, shrines and umbrellas a symbol of the protests. Police on motorbikes escorted the first civilian vehicles to pass along the road in three weeks.
It also reduces the number of protest sites that have paralyzed parts of Asias premiere financial center since Sept. 28.
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Hong Kong police clear pro-democracy camp at key intersection
October 18, 2014, 1:05 am
Hong Kong (AFP) - Fresh clashes broke out in Hong Kong Friday night as demonstrators attempted to retake a protest camp partially cleared by police earlier in the day jeopardising talks to end weeks of mass democracy rallies
Officers used pepper spray and batons to beat back activists as they tried to reoccupy a busy main road in the bustling Mongkok district that had been host to a protest camp for nearly three weeks, an AFP reporter on the scene saw.
It is the third consecutive night violence has broken out after a fortnight of comparative calm in a development that risks sinking only recently resurrected plans to hold talks between student leaders and the city's Beijing-backed authorities.
The Asian financial hub has been rocked by demonstrations for nearly three weeks -- some of which drew crowds tens of thousands strong -- calling both for full democracy and the resignation of the city's leader Leung Chun-ying.
Protesters have held sit-ins at three major intersections causing significant disruption to a city usually known for its stability and presenting Beijing with one of the most significant challenges to its rule since the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
China has insisted that Leung's successor must be vetted by a loyalist committee before standing for election in 2017, a proposal protesters have dismissed as a "fake democracy".
Earlier in the day officers had significantly reduced the size of the Mongkok camp -- the second largest after the main protest site opposite the government's headquarters on the other side of Victoria Harbour -- in a swift dawn raid that saw no resistance put up by protesters.
The site had previously seen clashes between demonstrators and masked government loyalists earlier in the month.
Throughout Friday demonstrators managed to hold on to one side of a multi-lane road where the camp had been located. Police then struggled to maintain order as crowds of pro-democracy supporters began to swell during the evening.