2014-09-23 13:30:00

Hong Kong: clashes break out amid democracy protests


(Vatican Radio) Clashes broke out on Tuesday as students in Hong Kong resumed their week-long protests in which they are demanding  greater democracy for the former British colony from Communist Party leaders in Beijing. Some 20 students clashed with police when they pushed barriers and rushed to meet Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying as he stepped out to meet the crowd in the Central business district.

Some 20 students clashed with police when they pushed barriers and rushed to meet Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying as he stepped out to meet the crowd in the Central business district. 

On Monday, thousands of Hong Kong college and university students boycotted classes to protest Beijing's decision to restrict electoral reforms.Last month, Beijing rejected demands for people freely to choose the city's next leader in 2017, insisting that candidates had to be pre-screened. A Columban missionary priest and editor of the Hong Kong-based weekly publication, the Sunday Examiner, Fr. Jim Mulroney, told Vatican Radio the situation is one that has developed over some time. "The protests have grown out of quite a long process," he said, adding, "over the last [few] years, a lot of pressure has been building up toward this."

In December, 2009, Hong Kong authorities first made concrete political reform proposals in response to calls for greater democracy, and in the wake of earlier promises that full democracy would be guaranteed. Those proposals included an enlarged Legislative Council, though critics at the time said the proposals were insufficient.

Click below to hear Ann Schneible's extended conversation with Fr. Jim Mulroney, SSC








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