Hong Kong’s leader warned yesterday that violence will not be tolerated, a day after authorities arrested 10 people and seized suspected explosives ahead of a crucial vote on a China-backed electoral reform package this week.
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.
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 that makes a mockery of China’s promise of universal suffrage.
Anger has spilled over to soccer crowds, with supporters of the Hong Kong team loudly booing the Chinese national anthem yesterday night at the start of a local World Cup Asian zone qualifying match against the Maldives.
Some fans turned their backs and others chanted “we are Hong Kong” in a repeat of similar scenes last week before Hong Kong’s match against Bhutan.
Authorities expect the scale of protests to be much larger, and possibly violent, if the reform package is passed.
