Hong Kong’s leader says “external forces” are participating in protests that have occupied parts of this financial capital for more than three weeks.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s statement in a televised interview Sunday was the first time he has alleged foreign involvement in the unrest, echoing accusations by China’s central government. Leung’s statement comes just before his government is scheduled to hold talks with student leaders on Tuesday.
When asked on the “Newsline” program about a Chinese official’s comments on outside involvement, Leung said, “There is obviously participation by people, organizations from outside of Hong Kong.” Leung added that the foreign actors came from “different countries in different parts of the world,” but didn’t specify which countries.
Protesters, mostly young college students, are pressing for a greater say in choosing the semiautonomous Chinese city’s leader in an inaugural direct election, promised by Beijing for 2017. They oppose Beijing’s ruling that a committee stacked with pro-Beijing elites should screen candidates in the election.
In what has become a daily pattern, the police have driven away the students from some streets during the night, only to see them regroup and occupy the areas and resume their sit-ins. The protests stretched into their fourth week Monday with thousands of demonstrators camped out in downtown Hong Kong and two other sites in this city of 7.2 million.
After two nights of violent clashes, protesters and police settled into an uneasy peace in the densely commercial Mong Kok district after two pro-democracy legislators, Fernando Chiu and Claudia Mo, arrived late Sunday night and helped calm tensions.
