Hong-kong braces for national day protest

Protesters demand Hong Kong leader resign and for China to
drop plans to select candidates for 2017 polls.
Thousands of protesters have thronged the streets of Hong
Kong, ratcheting up pressure on the pro- Beijing government
that has called the demonstrations illegal , and vowing to
press ahead with their biggest protest so far.
As Hong Kong observed National Day on Wednesday , marking
the 65 th anniversary of the founding of Communist China ,
protesters continued to occupy the Central business district
and movement leaders said they would announce plans to
escalate civil disobedience .
In a speech on Tuesday , President Xi Jinping did not make
any direct reference to the ongoing protests , but pledged that
China would protect Hong Kong 's interests .
" The central government will unswervingly implement the
guidelines of 'one country , two systems ' and the Basic Law
and steadfastly safeguard the long - term prosperity and
stability of Hong Kong and Macau ," Xi said.
Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler , reporting from Hong Kong , said
that it was unlikely that the government would give in to
protesters ' demands for Chief Executive CY Leung to step
down , and for the Chinese government to drop plans to
handpick candidates for Hong Kong 's leadership election in
2017.
Heidler said that thousands of protesters refused to leave the
site of the demonstration , and braved the rain overnight,
with organisers expecting " a lot more people to show up" due
to the holiday .
He said that protesters had also started to gather in a
separate part of the city , which is popular among mainland
Chinese tourists and shoppers .
Earlier on Tuesday, Alex Chow, the secretary general of the
Hong Kong Federation of Students, the organiser of the
university class boycotts that led to the street protests , said it
was considering its options, including widening the protests ,
pushing for a labour strike and occupying a government
building .
Despite widespread fears that police may use force to move
crowds before the start of celebrations marking the
anniversary of the Communist Party's foundation in 1949 ,
there was little sign of the momentum of the protest
flagging .
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, hundreds of
demonstrators were milling around outside luxury stores and
setting up makeshift barricades in anticipation of possible
clashes.
As in most parts of Hong Kong , the police presence was
small .
Show of solidarity
M Lau , a 56 - year - old retiree , said he had taken to the
streets of Hong Kong to protest in the 1980s and wanted to
do so again in a show of solidarity with a movement that has
been led by students as well as more established activists .
" Later this morning I will come back , " he told the Reuters
news agency.
" I want to see more . Our parents and grandparents came to
Hong Kong for freedom and the rule of law . This [protest] is
to maintain our 160- year - old legal system for the next
generation . "
The protests are the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed
its rule of the former British colony in 1997 .
They also represent one of the biggest political challenges for
Beijing since it violently crushed pro- democracy protests in
Tiananmen Square in 1989 .
Cracking down too hard could shake confidence in market -
driven Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from
the rest of China .
Not reacting firmly enough , however , could embolden
dissidents on the mainland .
Online appeal
Underlining nervousness among some activists that
provocation on National Day could spark violence , students
from Hong Kong University made an online appeal for people
not to disturb the flag - raising ceremony, which took place on
Wednesday morning .
That ceremony was attended by hundreds of Hong Kong
government officials and several thousand supporters of the
government.
Hundreds of protesters lined up in the early hours to view the
ceremony at Bauhinia Square on the Hong Kong waterfront .
China rules Hong Kong under a " one country , two systems "
formula that accords the former British colony a degree of
autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China , with
universal suffrage set as an eventual goal .
However, when Beijing decreed a month ago that it would vet
candidates wishing to run for Hong Kong 's leadership ,
protesters reacted angrily.
Communist Party leaders in Beijing now worry that calls for
democracy could spread to the mainland, and have been
aggressively censoring news and social media comments about
the Hong Kong demonstrations .