Hong Kong government seeks to ban four more pro-democracy legislators
The four pan-democrats accuse the chief executive of staging a coup to overturn poll results, but justice secretary denies the charge
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying launched an all-out legal offensive against the pro-democracy camp on Friday, moving to have four more of its lawmakers disqualified over improper oath-taking.
His latest targets accused Leung of “staging a coup” to overturn election results and “score” with Beijing for a possible second term, but the justice minister insisted the bid to have them kicked out of the Legislative Council was “free of political consideration”.
Their supporters marched from Legco to the Chief Executive’s Office last night to protest, while civic groups are planning a bigger rally on New Year’s Day.
The government announced on Friday that it had “commenced legal proceedings” against veteran activist “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, former Occupy student leader Nathan Law Kwun-chung, academic Edward Yiu Chung-yim and lecturer Lau Siu-lai, asking the High Court to declare their oaths invalid and their Legco seats vacant. None of them have advocated Hong Kong independence, although Law and Lau have called for self-determination.