Beijing calls on all Hong Kong institutions to fight ‘violent criminals’ and end protests

Top policy office urges government branches including judiciary and all sectors of society to take ending the violence as ‘most pressing task’

It also hints that any revival of stalled electoral reform process must be based on a framework that would effectively allow Beijing to screen out candidates

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Anti-government demonstrators gather in Causeway Bay on Saturday. The protests have gripped Hong Kong since early June. Photo: May Tse

Jun Maiin Hong Kong,Kinling Loin BeijingandTony Cheungin Hong Kong

Published: 12:19am, 4 Sep 2019Updated: 3:18am, 4 Sep 2019

Beijing has called on all Hong Kong institutions with public authority, including the judiciary, to fight “violent criminals” with no mercy to put an end to more than 13 weeks of anti-government protests and violence.

“The Hong Kong government, including the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, as well as all sectors of society must take ‘bridling turmoil and curbing violence’ as the city’s most pressing task and the overwhelming priority,” Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) spokesman Yang Guang said on Tuesday.

“Especially to those key violent criminals and their backstage masterminds, organisers and agitators, [we] must show no mercy and pursue till the end.”

It was the fourth press conference on the crisis called by Beijing’s top office on Hong Kong affairs under the State Council, China’s cabinet, and its first appeal to the city’s legislative and judicial institutions to rally behind the government’s efforts to end the violence and chaos.

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has an active and vocal opposition that is strongly supportive of the protest movement, and the city’s courts have a strong reputation for being independent.