U.S. Again Backs Hong Kong Key Protest Demand

With protests in Hong Kong dwindling and the leaders of the Occupy Movement turning themselves in to police, the United States has repeated its backing for the goal of universal suffrage in the Chinese territory.

Speaking Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the people of Hong Kong should have a meaningful choice.

"The legitimacy of Hong Kong's chief executive will be greatly enhanced by universal suffrage. By an election that provides the people of Hong Kong a meaningful choice of candidates representative of voter's will," he said. "This means allowing for a competitive election in which a range of candidates with differing policy approaches are given an opportunity to seek the support of eligible Hong Kong voters."

He rejected criticism in China's state-run media that the Hong Kong protests are being orchestrated by the United States and other Western countries.

"The United States is not in any way involved in the protests. In fact, it is disingenuous to suggest this debate is driven by outsiders when it is so clearly about Hong Kongers hopes for their own future," said Russel.

The founders of Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement turned themselves in at the Central Police Station for their role in organizing pro-democracy protests authorities call illegal. After filling out a form to confess what crime they had committed, Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, and Chu Yiu-ming were sent away when police refused to arrest or charge them.

After turning himself in to the police, Democratic Party Vice Chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-Cheong told VOA he was at peace for assuming responsibility for the civil disobedience. He added he would shift his focus to community democracy and keep pursuing universal suffrage.

"After 60 days of the Occupy Movement, all friends participating in it, including those who are still in occupation areas, should consider how we can carry on this movement in the long run, how we can get more support from the public and whether we should transform the movement so as to gain more support," he said.

Authorities have not commented on the surrender, which is seen as an attempt to rejuvenate a movement that has begun to lose public support.

The Occupy founders on Tuesday called for demonstrators to retreat, citing fears of further violence following clashes with police on Sunday. So far, student led protesters have rejected those calls.

One prominent student leader, Joshua Wong, is taking a different approach. The 18-year-old has not eaten since late Monday, hoping this will convince authorities to restart talks on political reforms.

Protest leaders and Hong Kong authorities have held one round of dialogue, but it resulted in little progress after both sides stood firm and repeated their talking points.

The demonstrations began in late September, after Beijing announced it will screen candidates who want to run for chief executive in the semiautonomous Chinese territory's 2017 elections.

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Hong Kong Protest Leaders Will Surrender to Police

The three founders of Hong Kong's Occupy movement are moving ahead with plans to surrender to police and are urging their fellow protesters to retreat for their own safety.

At a news conference Tuesday, Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, and Chu Yiu-ming announced they will turn themselves into the Central Police Station on Wednesday.

Benny Tai said it is unclear whether police will detain or release him and his Occupy co-founders, but he said they are ready to accept the consequences no matter the outcome.

He also urged the hundreds of protesters who remain camped on Hong Kong's streets to pull back and prepare for a long-term fight aimed at securing democratic reforms.

"The government that uses police batons to maintain its authority is a government that is beyond reason. For the sake of the Occupy safety, for the sake of our original intention of love and peace, as we prepare to surrender, we three urge the students to retreat, to put down deep roots in the community and transform the movement," he said.

On its Twitter page, the Occupy movement said the surrender "is not an act of cowardice" or admission of failure, but a denunciation of what it called a "heartless government."

Occupy Central civil disobedience founder Benny Tai (center), a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, along with co-founders Chan Kin-man (left), a professor of sociology at Chinese University and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, join hands during a news conference. /Reuters

The protests, which began in late September, are calling for authorities to hold fully democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory in 2017.

Authorities have declared the protests to be illegal and have tried several times to clear parts of the camps, resulting in violent clashes.

It is unclear whether the protesters will agree to back down. Several student leaders have said they will not surrender, insisting instead on further escalation.

One student leader hopes a hunger strike will convince authorities to consider reforms. Joshua Wong began his indefinite hunger strike late Monday, along with two other members of his group, known as Scholarism.

Twelve hours into the fast, the 18-year-old Wong told reporters his demand is to hold fresh talks, with no preconditions, on restarting Hong Kong's political reform process.

He also said he wants his action to help bring attention to the so-called Occupy Central movement, which has lost momentum in recent weeks.

"We admit that it's difficult in the future to have an escalated action, so besides suffering from batons and tear gas, we would like to use our body to get public attention on the issue. We are not sure if the hunger strike can put pressure on the government, but we hope that when the public finds out about the student hunger strike, they will ask themselves what they can do next," said Wong.

The hunger strike is being held in the Admiralty district, where clashes erupted Sunday after protesters broke through police lines in an attempt to surround government headquarters.

Police pushed back with pepper spray and batons, but the protesters eventually succeeded in temporarily forcing government offices and parliament to close. Several protesters were injured and at least 18 were arrested.

Hong Kong's High Court has approved an injunction to clear part of the Admiralty site, though it is unclear if and when authorities will enforce that ruling.

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Hong Kong Police Arrest Protest Leaders, Clear Streets

Hong Kong authorities cleared a main protest camp Wednesday and arrested two leaders of the Occupy Central movement, which is calling for greater democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.

Police hauled away several protesters, including student leaders Lester Shum and Joshua Wong, during the several-hour operation to clear barricades from a road in the Mong Kok district.

Scuffles broke out when some protesters tried to prevent workers from tearing down the barricades on a major thoroughfare.

Avery Ng Man-yuen, vice chairman of League of Social Democrats (LSD), tells VOA he and other protesters believe the police violated the court injunction during the enforcement process.

"They did not follow the procedure, but using the injunction as an excuse to clear the site," he said. "I have repeatedly asked the police to explain some questions, such as, is the bailiff there when they were enforcing injunction? He replied he didn't know. The injunction mentioned clearing obstacles, does that include protesters? He didn't reply."

The workers, who wore red baseball caps and "I Love Hong Kong" T-shirts, were backed by thousands of police. After the barricades and tents were removed, the highway reopened to traffic.

The workers and police initially faced resistance from demonstrators, who chanted for "full democracy" in the city. Police dragged away and arrested many protesters who refused to move.

One demonstrator, who identified himself as Roland, said he didn't know who the workers were. "Probably they are hired by the authorities to clear these [protest sites]. ... But I would like to insist that the Occupied zone is the expression of people’s voice. The government shouldn't do this."

Police officers remove tents set up by protesters as they clear an occupied area of the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Nov. 26, 2014. /AP

Demonstrations have blocked some Hong Kong's streets since the pro-democracy protests began in late September.

In October, Mong Kok was the site of violent clashes between protesters and thugs who attacked them. Police later said the attackers were members of local criminal gangs.

Pa Sah, who has joined in the daily demonstrations, alleged there has been "brutality and damage to the protesters."

"There have been a lot of cases where the police have attacked and injured protesters," the demonstrator said. "The police brutality is very apparent."

It was the third time authorities have cleared protest sites since Hong Kong's High Court approved the actions earlier this month. On Tuesday, police said they arrested 116 people during an operation to clear another part of Mong Kok.

Protesters remain camped out at two other sites near government headquarters in the Admiralty neighborhood and in the popular shopping district of Causeway Bay.

Public opinion in Hong Kong has been divided over the protests. Many residents say the demonstrations, which have blocked traffic and damaged sales at nearby shops and stores, have taken an economic toll on the city. Protest leadership has become increasingly split between moderate and more extreme activists who demand radical action.

While the protesters may be divided, the government's position is clear, Pa Sha said.

"I think the government is trying to arrest the leaders to try to deal with the movement once and for all, trying to show a very hard-line stance against the movement."

The demonstrators have been calling for fully democratic elections in 2017. They took to the streets after China ruled in August that all candidates for Hong Kong's chief executive must first be approved by a committee that is stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists.

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Scuffles Break Out as Students Protest in Central London

Scuffles broke out and missiles were thrown at police as thousands of students marched through the center of London on Wednesday to protest against a rise in higher education fees.

Some 5,000 demonstrators marched to Parliament Square where a small group broke away and breached temporary barriers to confront police outside the Houses of Parliament.

"Various missiles were thrown at the officers," Scotland Yard said in a statement. Three officers suffered minor injuries. By mid-afternoon there had been no arrests, it added.

The breakaway group later attacked a nearby Starbucks coffee shop and threw chairs from another restaurant at police, witnesses said.

Wednesday's march was the first mass protest by students in the British capital for three years.

Four protests against Prime Minister David Cameron's austerity measures shortly after he came to power in 2010 led to clashes with police, assaults on public buildings including the headquarters of Cameron's Conservative Party, and almost 400 arrests.

Students are angry at Cameron's government decision to hike tuition fees and they have been joined by other campaigners unhappy with spending cuts.

"Today we are marching through London in what is likely to be the biggest demonstration in several years," the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts said on its website. "We could well be on the verge of a new wave of student activism."

It addition to Wednesday's march, students were also planning walkouts and occupations of campus buildings.

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Newest Westboro Protest Victims

Taylor Swift wasn't enough for the Westboro Baptist Church -- now it's time to target One Direction.

The incendiary religious group will picket the boy band's July 19 concert in Kansas City, Mo., citing a verse from Genesis as justification. The group added the following message to its online picket schedule.

WBC will picket this perverted pop boy band from the UK who claim to be the world's #1 band. Indeed, they are a perfect representation of this filthy world and the sin-chasing, fag-enabling, God-hating, Christ-rejecting UK who has banned WBC from preaching within her borders. These freaks and their fans think it's funny for these five perverts to grab each other's asses on stage. They glamorize sin and make a mock of God's standards. Their one purpose is to encourage the youth of this generation to pursue every lust their evil hearts can imagine.

But Westboro didn't stop there. As if disrupting the concert isn't enough, the group has parodied one of the band's songs, replacing the lyrics of "One Thing" with words about obeying God's orders.

One Direction's victimization was announced right after that of Swift, whom the group called a "whore."

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