Hong Kong’s striking students yesterday gave the city’s leader 48 hours to honour his promise to listen to the people, threatening further action if he failed to respond to their demands for greater democracy in the former British colony.
The students are facing a showdown with Beijing over its decision to rule out fully democratic elections for Hong Kong’s next leader in 2017, with about 13,000 joining a rally at a university campus on Monday to mark the start of a week-long boycott of classes.
The ultimatum came after scuffles broke out when the students took their pro-democracy protest to government headquarters, where they pushed through barriers and rushed to meet Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying as he stepped out to meet the crowd in the Central business district.
Leung did not speak to the students but told reporters that any political reform would need to take into account Beijing’s wishes.
