Uproar at Legco after snap vote leads to passage of HK$19.6 billion for Hong Kong high-speed rail link
The Finance Committee’s acting chairman moved for a vote as pan-democrats were absent from the chamber
The HK$19.6 billion extra funding request for the controversial express rail link from Hong Kong to Guangdong was abruptly passed by the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday, triggering chaos inside and outside the chamber.
An angry legislator threw ink at acting committee chairman Chan Kam-lam as he out-manoeuvred pan-democratic lawmakers’ efforts to stall the vote, while police had to forcibly remove protesters who had the building.
The drama erupted at around 5pm, two hours into the meeting, when Chan suddenly called for a vote on the government’s request for extra money to complete the railway that will link Hong Kong to Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Moments before the vote, newly elected Civic Party lawmaker Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, used a megaphone to complain that he was only given seven minutes to ask questions even though he had not participated in the funding request debates before.
“I know Mr Alvin Yeung has been returned by 160,000 voters… but while you are here [in the chamber], you have to act according to the rules of procedure,” Chan told Yeung. “You don’t enjoy any privilege just because you have gained a certain number of votes.”
READ MORE: Hong Kong’s pan-democrats rethink tactics on blocking funding request for high-speed rail link
As Yeung continued to protest, Chan called for security to remove him from the chamber, at which point, all the pan-democrats left their seats and stood around their new colleague.