Political tensions continued to mount in Hong Kong on Thursday as lawmakers threw objects at chief executive C.Y. Leung amid growing calls for his resignation, while commentaries in China's state media struck an ominous note following Tuesday's mass pro-democracy march.
Leung was pelted with various items, including a glass of water that smashed near him, as he attended a meeting with representatives from the city's Legislative Council (LegCo), while others held up banners demanding full democracy in the former British colony.
Leung, who has refused to step down, told lawmakers that proposals for public nominations of candidates in the 2017 race for chief executive were unlikely to win support from Beijing, which recently reasserted its ultimate control over Hong Kong in a June 10 white paper.
More than 20 pro-democracy lawmakers held up banners in the LegCo chamber calling for universal suffrage, shouting slogans as Leung left, and the speaker called a recess.
Leung said legislators, who confronted him after hundreds of thousands took to the city's streets on Tuesday to call for public nomination of election candidates, were using "abusive language" and taking "increasingly radical actions"
"We can see that some LegCo members ... threw objects, including a glass which smashed, right under the gaze of the public," Leung told lawmakers after the incident, although a number of pro-democracy lawmakers had already walked out in protest.
"I think everyone, including LegCo, should be concerned about this developing trend," he said.
'Absolute power'
Lawmaker Raymond Kwong said he didn't remember exactly what he had thrown at Leung.
"I threw a lot of stuff over there, I don't know exactly what," Kwong told reporters after the incident. But he berated journalists for an attitude which would see them "become slaves in future."
"When dealing with this sort of absolute power, one can't be too polite," he said. "So what if I did throw [the glass]?"
Many who marched on Tuesday called for Leung's resignation, saying he is out of step with public opinion, after 800,000 voted last month in an unofficial referendum for some form of public nomination in the 2017 elections.
Police, who detained more than 500 protesters during a peaceful sit-in that followed the march, said they were investigating the incident.
Currently, half of the seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council are filled through direct election from geographical constituencies, with the rest chosen by professional groups, businesspeople, and corporations.
A growing rift
The pelting of Leung comes amid a growing rift between Hong Kong officials and lawmakers in the wake of a controversial funding bill last month for two new towns in the northeast of the territory, which many say was forced through by Leung's administration in the face of considerable public objection.
China's tightly controlled state media, which has condemned both the referendum and the march, hit out with an ominous warning on Thursday.
The English-language tabloid Global Times, which has close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said Hong Kong could become the next Ukraine or Thailand if goes ahead with "political upheaval."
In a veiled reference to plans for a civil disobedience movement occupying Hong Kong's Central business district, the paper said Wednesday's sit-in had undermined the rule of law in Hong Kong, which has traditionally enjoyed freedom of the press and of association.
"Without the rule of law, Hong Kong could sink into the likes of Ukraine or Thailand and all kinds of dangerous phenomena could happen," the paper said in an editorial.
"The radical opposition organizers had admitted that their action would be unlawful. But they still went ahead," it said.
"After [their arrest], some of the troublemakers even unreasonably pointed their fingers at the police for 'using force,'" it continued, without offering further details.
Peaceful protest
Hong Kong's police force action against the 2,000 protesters who blocked Chater Road in the city's downtown area overnight was roundly criticized by Amnesty International, which said the freedom to stage protests is enshrined in international law, and that force should only be used as a last resort.
Those protesters, most of whom were students, who hadn't yet been moved got up and walked away at a prearranged time of 8.00 a.m.
Police also came under fire for requesting that journalists leave the scene before they began moving protesters, a move which has added to concerns about press freedom following a string of physical attacks on the liberal media.
Hong Kong lawmaker and Civic Party leader Alan Leong said on Thursday that the student-led sit-in had been conducted in the tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience.
"They were very peaceful, and anyone continuing to try to smear the Occupy Central campaign has no basis in reality," Leong told RFA on Thursday.
"Everyone could see that Occupy Central is likely to be very peaceful because of the way the students behaved."
Meanwhile, lecturers and professors at 41 further and higher education institutions launched a campaign of support for the students being charged with public-order offenses after the sit-in.
"Not only was there no provocation, there was no bad language," they wrote in a post on Facebook. "They just sat there peacefully, arms linked, as the police cleared the area, entirely in the spirit of nonviolent protest."
Need for debate
While Beijing has said Hong Kong can elect its own leader in the 2017 race for chief executive, it has stopped short of allowing candidates to run who have not been previously approved by Beijing.
A poll conducted by the English-language South China Morning Post newspaper found that 91 percent of marchers questioned had joined the march in support of public nominations.
Another major reason given was opposition to a June 10 white paper in which Beijing asserted its rule over Hong Kong, saying the city's traditionally independent judges are "administrators" who should be "patriotic."
A top U.S. diplomat on Wednesday called on China to give Hong Kong the space to debate its political future and allow the "vigorous" voices of the city's residents to be heard.
"We want to see continued evidence that the rights of the people of Hong Kong are being respected and that the principles that China embraced in connection with reversion are honored," America's top diplomat for East Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, told Agence France-Presse.
China's foreign ministry responded by telling Washington to stay out of its internal affairs.
"The Chinese government resolutely opposes any interventions by any other countries and expects the relevant country to stop making irresponsible comments on Hong Kong's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
Hong Kong was promised "a high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain to China.
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