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Hong Kong protesters march for ‘genuine universal suffrage’ one month after Carrie Lam elected leader
More than 300 people take to the streets, urging city’s chief executive-elect to reopen ‘Civic Square’ site to mend social rifts
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More than 300 people took to the streets a month after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was elected Hong Kong’s next leader, reiterating their call for “genuine universal suffrage” and urging Lam to reopen the sealed-off “Civic Square” in a bid to bridge social divides.
The march from East Point Road in Causeway Bay to the chief executive-elect’s office in Central on Sunday came a week after Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai floated the controversial suggestion of the government pardoning those charged in connection with the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy protests, including both police and activists.
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Wu was forced to retract his call within a day, after it drew strong opposition from allies and opponents. He had suggested such an amnesty would foster reconciliation.
“We are here to reiterate the principles we stand for,” legislator “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats said, ahead of the march. “In order to achieve so-called reconciliation, Hongkongers should be able to enjoy the right to universal suffrage as enjoyed by people in every democratic country.”
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Demosisto lawmaker Nathan Law Kwun-chung, who was also an Occupy student activist, blamed the city’s social conflicts on the widening wealth gap, political suppression and the “government-business-landlord-triad” collusion – a long-time allegation made by lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick.
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