Thank God Police frees Hong Kong Protest Leader Tai Walks
Benny Tai, a law professor, started Occupy Central almost two years ago and propounded a philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience. One hour after turning himself in for taking part in illegal street protests in Hong Kong, Benny Tai walked free from the police station.
Police officers told Tai and his two co-founders of Occupy Central With Love and Peace they weren’t wanted for crimes. The three had proposed mass street occupations to force China to accede to demands for free elections, which precipitated the student-led protests that started in late September. Tai and his followers have been relegated to supporting roles in the protests that have become the biggest challenge to China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong since the return of the former British colony in 1997. His call yesterday for student leaders to end the demonstrations, which have seen public support fade amid violent clashes with police, has been ignored.
“Their act is with an intention of ending the occupation without further conflict, but I doubt whether things can go as they plan,” Hung Ho-fung, an associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, who studies China and Hong Kong. Tai and his group “were never in control,” Hung said. Tai said the police took down their personal details, and asked them to sign a form declaring which crimes they have committed. After ticking a box for unauthorized public assembly, the three men left the police station.
“Later we may be arrested or prosecuted for more serious offenses,” Tai told reporters after leaving the police station. “Let’s wait and see.”H.K.'s Lau Says Will Surrender to Police at Later Stage. Tai, a law professor, started Occupy Central almost two years ago and propounded a philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience. After China’s ruling in August that candidates for the city’s leadership election in 2017 would be vetted, student protesters took to the streets, prompting Tai’s group to join and start their long-planned sit-in.
The demonstrations drew at least 100,000 people in the early days, more than 10 times the number Tai had forecast. The protests are now fizzling amid fading public support and disagreements over tactics. “The police will follow up and conduct an investigation based on the information provided by those who turned themselves in,” it said in a statement today. As of 4:30 p.m., 24 people had surrendered themselves, it said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday told protesters their fight is in vain and urged them to leave, as some student leaders announced a hunger strike after attempts to surround government offices on the night of Nov.30 failed. Police used pepper spray and water hoses to force back the protesters, with dozens injured on both sides. The city was forced to shut the government offices for part of the day. The police arrested at least 40 people.
Hong Kong Democratic Party Chairman Emily Lau today joined those calling for the protests to end after the violent clashes. “We are losing public support, both here and in the international community,” Lau said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Rishaad Salamat. “I think that’s very stupid. For weeks, people supported us a lot because it was so peaceful. But now, if we turn violent and if we attract police brutality, it’s crazy, so it’s time for a rethink.” The court on Dec. 1 granted an injunction to All China Express, a bus company, for the removal of barricades on parts of the roads protesters have occupied outside government offices in the Admiralty district. The new injunction will allow bailiffs, backed by police, to clear barriers blocking parts of Connaught Road, Harcourt Road and Cotton Tree Drive to permit traffic to flow, the judge ruled. Those who impede bailiffs will be liable for criminal contempt charges, according to the court ruling.
Last week, bailiffs and police removed protesters from Mong Kok, one of the three sites, through similar injunctions, leading to the biggest number of arrests in a two-day period since the demonstrations started.
To contact the reporters on this story: Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.net; Dominic Lau in Hong Kong at dlau92@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net Tan Hwee Ann, Neil Western
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