Zhang to meet pro-democracy lawmakers
HONG KONG ( AFP) — Hong Kong protesters angry at a visit by a top Beijing official shouted pro-democracy slogans and demanded free elections yesterday but were kept away from talks seen as an attempt to bridge a growing political divide.
The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist- controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official in four years and comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as Beijing tightens its grip.
Although Zhang’s trip is ostensibly for an economic conference, it is widely being seen as a conciliatory mission and a chance to gauge whether Beijing should back the city’s unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying to stand for a second term.
It comes as frustration over lack of reform has sparked a fledgling independence movement, condemned by authorities in Hong Kong and China.
Zhang was to meet with pro- democracy lawmakers yesterday evening in a rare move, after kicking off his visit Tuesday by promising to listen to political demands from across society.
But opponents have criticized Zhang for what they called “tokenistic” diplomacy and slammed Hong Kong authorities for putting parts of the city into a security lockdown for his visit.
Roads around Zhang’s hotel and the convention center hosting the economic conference have been cordoned off with water- filled barricades and protesters funneled into designated areas — out of sight.
Around 100 protesters marched to one of the areas yesterday morning before the conference started, vastly outnumbered by police — thousands of whom have been mobilized to protect Zhang.
They called for the “end of dictatorship,” fully free elections, and the release of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese Nobel peace laureate jailed on the mainland, as well as the resignation of city leader Leung.