Former Chief Secretary Anson Chan (R) has urged protesters to retreat from Mong Kok while People Power lawmaker Albert Chan (L) feels the demonstrators should stay put there. Photos: HKEJ
Anson Chan urges protesters to leave Mong Kok to avoid clashes
Moderate and radical democrats in Hong Kong are taking different views on whether the Occupy protesters in Mong Kok should stay put.
Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang has urged protesters to leave Mong Kok to avoid violent clashes, while continuing with the sit-in at Admiralty, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported Thursday.
She called on the government to reopen the Civic Square outside the government headquarters to the public, the report said.
The political reform framework set out by Beijing is too tight and leaves no room for further discussion, Chan said.
“The proposals put forward by government officials were nothing new in the talks with students,” she said, calling on the administration to offer “concrete and meaningful” suggestions.
Chan also criticized Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for choosing to not attend the talks with students.
Scuffles continue to break out in Mong Kok from time to time. Some protesters in Mong Kok have complained that the police have turned a blind eye to people who were trying to clear the barricades at the section of Argyle and Portland streets Thursday afternoon.
“The police were just dispersing the crowd but did not stop the anti-Occupy groups from clearing the barricades,” the Economic Journal quoted a 15-year-old protester as saying.
Meanwhile, People Power lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip and some citizens filed a suit at the High Court to quash the three interim injunctions granted in the past few days to bar pro-democracy demonstrators from occupying key roads in Mongkok and Admiralty, RTHK reported.
“We hope the case will be handled as early as today,” he said.
The areas covered by the injunctions are the section of Nathan Road in Mongkok between Argyle and Dundas Streets as well as the nearby carriageway between Tung Choi and Portland Streets.
One of the injunctions also applies to the area outside Citic Tower in Admiralty.
Last Sunday, 24 people had to visit the hospital for treatment of injuries after the police charged into a crowd. Check out the video here:
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