Hong Kong warns against pro-democracy protests

Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong were warned on Thursday against holding mass protests as part of their campaign for the right to choose their own candidates for a poll in 2017 to elect the capitalist hub's next leader.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said during a stormy legislative session that the authorities were ready to act if the activists pursued a campaign of civil disobedience named "Occupy Central" to seal off the city's business district unless Beijing allows a truly democratic poll.

"We are not going to sit with arms folded, and we are not going to underestimate the seriousness of the matter," Leung said, as several radical lawmakers raised objections and called for his resignation.

"Even if you do so, you are not going to force the central authorities to accede to your demand," Leung said.

The Occupy protest proposed for July has unnerved Beijing officials who have warned against it, while Leung has previously said it wouldn't be lawful nor tolerated by the police.

In March, Zhang Dejiang, the head of China's National People's Congress, told Hong Kong delegates attending the annual NPC meetings in Beijing that Western-style democracy would need to be adapted to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with wide-ranging autonomy under the formula of "one country, two systems" — along limited press freedom and an undated promise of full democracy, an issue never broached by the British during 150 years of colonial rule.

China has agreed to let Hong Kong elect its next leader in 2017 in what will be the most far-reaching version of democracy on Chinese soil. Specific arrangements, however, have yet to be decided including, crucially, whether public nominations of candidates including opposition democrats will be allowed.

The activists fear that candidates will be nominated by a small election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists that would veto nomination of opposition candidates. 

Reuters