Activists gatecrash meeting of Hong Kong leadership hopeful

Pro-democracy protesters yesterday gatecrashed a press conference by Hong Kong leadership hopeful Carrie Lam, displaying banners criticizing a “rigged election” as the woman seen as China’s favorite unveiled her policy. Around a dozen activists including Joshua Wong, the face of 2014’s mass pro-democracy protests, entered the venue minutes before the start and demanded to be allowed to communicate their messages to Lam.

Protesters chanted slogans and unfurled banners demanding the public get the right to vote for the city’s top post. They were allowed to stay after campaign manager Bernard Chan said he welcomed them to sit in. The chief executive of the semi-autonomous Chinese city will be chosen on March 26 by a 1,200-strong committee, most of whose members are broadly pro-Beijing. Lam, a former deputy leader of the Hong Kong government, was in charge of promoting a Beijing-backed political reform package rejected as a sham by the pro-democracy camp in 2014.

The proposal would for the first time have allowed all Hong Kong voters to elect their leader, but would tightly control those eligible to stand. Lam said yesterday that divisions in society had made it difficult to restart discussions about political reform. Her platform instead focused on livelihood issues, the city’s housing crisis, the economy and youth development. — AFP