|
 Security has been stepped up across the Chinese-ruled city,
including at government buildings and train stations, as it braces
for a fresh showdown over plans for how its next leader is elected
in 2017.
Authorities are taking no chances after mass pro-democracy protests
crippled parts of the former British colony late last year and
presented China's Communist Party leadership with one of its biggest
political challenges in decades.
"Hong Kong society should not tolerate any illegal activities.
Whether these are violent or non-violent, we should not allow any
illegal activities to be justified," Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying
said in a televised briefing ahead of the weekly Executive Council
meeting.
Ten people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to manufacture
explosives, police said on Monday, adding that some belonged to a
radical group. They did not elaborate and no charges have been laid.
Hong Kong's legislature is due to begin debate on the electoral
reform package in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, with a vote
due by the end of the week. Pro-democracy protesters are staging
evening rallies throughout the week.
"We hope it can pass smoothly," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing. "This is beneficial for Hong
Kong's long-term development."
Beijing has proposed a direct vote for Hong Kong's next leader in
2017, but only from among pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates.
Democracy activists say they want a genuinely democratic vote.
"If the pan-democrats stubbornly insist on vetoing the proposal,
democracy in Hong Kong will come to a standstill," said Song Ru'an,
a Chinese Foreign Ministry official in Hong Kong.
The head of China's Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya, in
an interview with two pro-Beijing newspapers, reiterated Beijing's
desire to see the electoral package passed. He said that if the
electoral framework were accepted in its current form, there would
still be room for changes in future, though he gave no specifics.
With tensions running high before the debate, Hong Kong's
Independent Commision Against Corruption has also said it is
investigating allegations by an unidentified legislator that he was
offered a bribe to vote for the package.
Some of those arrested in the raids belonged to a little-known group
called the National Independent Party, Hong Kong media reported on
Tuesday. According to its Facebook page the group was set up in
January, but the page has now been deleted.
A June 1 post purportedly from the group warned that, if the reform
package was passed, "Hong Kong people should be mentally prepared
there will be casualties".
[to top of second column] |
The Global Times, a widely-read tabloid published by the Chinese
Communist Party's official People's Daily, said in an editorial that
following the finding of the explosives, Hong Kong risked descending
into chaos.
"The people of Hong Kong should really pay attention to the
impression that outsiders have of it becoming more and more chaotic.
This is related to the world's confidence in Hong Kong," it said.
Rising tensions have resulted in a new front of radical activism in
Hong Kong, where some groups have staged small but disruptive
protests targeting mainland Chinese visitors.
Monday's raids by scores of officers rattled some legislators and
residents. Posts on social media questioned the timing of the
arrests, details of which were leaked to Hong Kong media before an
official announcement.
Others were quick to sound a cautious note.
"I suggest we look very carefully and calmly at this case before we
afford this incident too much priority or seek to amend the Hong
Kong threat profile," said Steve Vickers, chief executive of risk
consultancy SVA and former head of the Royal Hong Kong Police
Criminal Intelligence Bureau.
Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under a promise that
core personal and commercial freedoms, backed by a British-style
legal system, would be protected for 50 years.
Two senior police officers have told Reuters at least 5,000 officers
will be standing by on the day of the vote. Authorities expect the
scale of protests to be much larger, and possibly violent, if the
reform package is passed.
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret, Donny Kwok in HONG KONG and
Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
