Pitching tents, Hong Kong democracy protesters dig in for long haul

By Donny Kwok and Diana Chan

Pitching tents, Hong Kong democracy protesters dig in for long haul

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of student activists camped overnight at major protest sites in Hong Kong as the democracy movement sought to regather momentum after the government called off talks with its leaders aimed at defusing unrest in the global financial hub.

Protests escalated late last month, after Beijing's decision on August 31 to impose conditions for nominations that would effectively stop pro-democracy candidates from contesting an election of the city's chief executive set for 2017.

The occupation movement suffered a noticeable dip in support over the past week, but strong crowds of over ten thousand returned on Friday evening for a series of rallies in the former British colony.

By Saturday afternoon many protesters were coming back again to join the stalwarts who had camped overnight.

"Hong Kong is my home, we are fighting for Hong Kong's future, our future," Lawrence Chan, a 23 year-old media studies student, who has participated in the protests from the outset, told Reuters.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said on Thursday that the government had called off talks with the students because of their persistent calls to escalate action.

"It seems like they (the government) don't want to (have a) conversation with us. But I think this amount of people shows that we really want to solve the problem with the government," said Kiki Choi, a 25-year-old art teacher among the protesters.

Since taking to the streets around two weeks ago, the activists have blockaded major roads around the government precinct in Admiralty, as well as the shopping districts of Central and Causeway Bay.

At Friday's rallies, protest leaders urged demonstrators to prepare for a protracted struggle instead of expanding the protests geographically. The protests have led to some resentment among the public due to the resulting traffic jams and loss of business.

It was unclear how long Hong Kong authorities will tolerate the occupation or how the standoff might be resolved. For now, however, the police presence remains thin with authorities seemingly reluctant to risk fresh flare-ups.

Riot police had cracked down on protesters massing near the government headquarters on Sept. 28, but the authorities have taken a softer line since.

Over one hundred colorful tents were sprinkled across the eight-lane Harcourt Road highway, among scores of red and blue portable marquees serving as supply and first aid stations; stocked with water, biscuits, noodles and cereals.

"We have tents here to show our determination that we're prepared for a long term occupation," said Benny Tai, one of the leaders of the movement, emerging bleary-eyed on Saturday morning from a tent pitched outside the Hong Kong government's headquarters.

Scores of people ran a marathon in support of the students early on Saturday, and bridges remained festooned with umbrellas, protest art demanding full democracy and satirical images lampooning Leung Chun-ying, the city's Beijing-backed leader.

The 'Occupy Central' protests, an idea conceived over a year ago referring to the Central business district, have presented Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989.

NO SIMPLE WAY OUT

In the first direct public comments by a senior Chinese leader in response to the protests, Premier Li Keqiang said Hong Kong authorities had the ability to protect the city's economic prosperity and social stability.

"Maintaining the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong is not only in China's interests but is mostly in the interests of the people of Hong Kong," Li said in Germany on Friday.

Since Britain handed back control in 1997, China has ruled Hong Kong through a "one country, two systems" formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

The Communist Party leadership has dismissed the Hong Kong protests as illegal and has left Leung to find a solution.

Beijing fears that calls for democracy in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland, with China already facing separatist unrest in far-flung Tibet and Xinjiang.

Leung has so far ignored protesters demands for full democracy and their calls for him to quit. Earlier this week, some lawmakers demanded that anti-graft officers investigate a $6.4 million business payout to Leung, while in office.

© Reuters. A woman walks by little paper umbrellas displayed at an area blocked by pro-democracy protesters at the commercial area of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong,

The leader of Hong Kong's largest pro-Beijing political party, Tam Yiu-chung, conceded after a late meeting with Leung that while the protests should be cleared as soon as possible: "It is not a simple thing and it is not a ripe time now."

(Additional reporting by Clare Baldwin; Writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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මට හොරෙන් කැළණියේ බාර් පර්මිට් දීලා.. මං ආණ්ඩුවෙන් යනවා..

මට හොරෙන් කැළණියේ බාර් පර්මිට් දීලා.. මං ආණ්ඩුවෙන් යනවා..

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තමන් නායකත්වය දෙන කැලණිය ආසනයේ තමන්ට හොරෙන් මත් පැන් බලපත‍්‍රයක් දී ඇතැයි චෝදනා කරන ඇමති මර්වින් සිල්වා මහතා මෙවන් දේ සිදු වන්නේ නම් තමන්ට ආණ්ඩුවන් යන්නට සිදු වන බවත් පවසයි.
හරක් මස් කඩ, මත්පැන් අලෙවි සැල් කැළණියේ විවෘත කිරීමට තමත් අවසර නොදෙන බවද පවසන ඇමතිවරයා තමාට හොරෙන් හෝටලයකට මත්පැන් අලෙවි කිරීමේ බලපත්‍රය දී ඇත්තේ කෙසේදැයි ප‍්‍රශ්ණ කරයි.

Banks and airlines prop up FTSE 100

(Reuters) - A rise in major bank and airline stocks propped up Britain's benchmark equity index on Monday, while Tesco edged higher after the troubled supermarket group strengthened its board.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which had fallen to its lowest closing level in nearly a year last week, was up by 0.1 percent, or 5.87 points, at 6,533.78 points by the middle of the trading session.

Banks added the most points to the FTSE.

Global banks HSBC and Standard Chartered - which have a large exposure to Hong Kong - rose as civil unrest in Hong Kong eased, while Barclays analysts also forecast better times ahead for both banks.

Tesco, which is reeling from an accounting scandal that has hit its shares, rose by 2.1 percent as analysts welcomed its appointment of two non-executive directors to strengthen its boardroom.

"Non-executive directors rarely put pennies into the tills, but in this instance we welcome the joint appointments and hope that it represents the recommencement of more effective governance of Tesco," said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black.

AIRLINES OUTPERFORM

Airline stocks such as International Consolidated Airlines Group - which owns British Airways and Iberia - and easyJet also rose on the back of a fall in oil prices, the main cost burden for airlines.

EasyJet, which was up by 1 percent, was also buoyed by U.S. bank Citigroup's decision to raise its price target on the stock to 1,670 pence from 1,600 pence.

Strand Capital managing director Kyri Kangellaris said the FTSE, which is down 3 percent since the start of 2014, had the potential to rebound by around 300 points from now until the end of the year.

"We could have a shaky few weeks, but I think there is good upside from here," he said.

(Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa and Tricia Wright; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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