Carrie Lam tells Occupy democracy ‘will never be achieved’ through civil disobedience
Group leaders say government's No 2 simply urged them to give up, rather than offering hope of compromise on democratic reform
The government and Occupy Central remain poles apart over political reform after their first meeting yesterday at which Hong Kong's No 2 official told the movement's organisers their goal would not be achieved through civil disobedience.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor urged the Occupy organisers to give up their plan to block roads in Central if the government fails to come up with a satisfactory plan for a democratic election for chief executive in 2017.
But Occupy leaders stuck to their guns, urging the government to respect the views expressed in last month's unofficial referendum, in which almost 700,000 of the near-800,000 voters urged lawmakers to veto reforms that did not meet international standards.
Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who met Lam with co-organisers Dr Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, described the meeting as "disappointing" as Lam did nothing but urge them to give up.
"We cannot say the meeting was productive," Tai said. "We have expressed our views and even offered [to help] find a way to solve the constitutional crisis with the understanding of the political reality after the civil referendum. But we cannot see that the chief secretary has any concrete plan or idea for finding a way to solve the crisis."
Speaking after the one-hour meeting, Lam said she had "seriously told the organisers that I don't agree with their means".