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MASS PROTESTS IN Hong Kong have been met with tear gas and pepper spray.
The images from the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in the Chinese region have shocked many in the west who think of Hong Kong as a major global financial centre and one of the more free countries in Asia.
However, the unexpectedly brutal police crackdown has shone international light on an area rife with tensions.
1. It started as a protest against an election, mostly
Last Wednesday, a coalition of student groups took part in a protest in reaction to China’s announcement of a 2017 election in Hong Kong that did not guarantee Hong Kong full autonomy, as had been promised.
However, it was also about a division between Hong Kong society, the looming shadow of the Tiananmen Square massacre and Hong Kongers anxieties about their own future.
This comes against a backdrop of Hong Kong’s importance to China declining.
Protests such as this are commonplace in Hong Kong, so this wasn’t enough to raise eyebrows.
2. But it escalated
However on Friday, things turned. Members of the group Occupy Central (Central is Hong Kong’s business district), who had been planning a civil disobedience campaign for this week decided to start early. They occupied the forecourt of government buildings and other areas peacefully.
What happened next shocked the protesters.
Police cracked down with a level of aggression not seen before. They took the street with tear gas, pepper spray, guns and fought with protesters. This outraged the public, who took to the streets in support.
This led to the streets of Central being covered in tear gas on Sunday.
3. The escalation was shocking for a couple of reasons
The reason people were surprised by the police escalation is that this is Hong Kong. The region is known for its order and civility. Hong Kongers see themselves as a separate, sometimes superior, people to mainland China.
Their special status grants them that feeling, but it could be under threat.
The other reason is that Central is one of the most important locations in world finance.
4. Hong Kong is upset that China is breaking a 1997 promise
In 1997, Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British government. After a century and a half of rule from London, Hong Kong had become massively wealthy. It was also more free and autonomous than the rest of China.
When China took over in 1997, they promised “one country, two systems”, effectively committing to full autonomy in 2017, allowing them to democratically elect their leader for the first time.
The current first citizen, known as chief executive, is appointed by Beijing.
In August, Beijing announced its plan for the 2017 election.
While the leader will still be voted for by the public, the candidates will be selected by Beijing. This angered many in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy protesters call it “fake democracy”.
5. The pro-democracy opinion is not unanimous
In August a network of pro-Beijing groups organised an anti-Occupy protest march that drew tens of thousands — although there were allegations that some protesters were paid or bussed in from the mainland.
But the scale nonetheless pointed to unease felt by some Hong Kongers — particularly in the business community — about the democracy camp’s confrontational approach towards Beijing.
6. Beijing is unlikely to back down – and protesters are digging in
The Beijing government is not likely to bend, many analysts say. However, early signs are that many protesters are still joining up with protesters.
The police in Hong Kong are de-escalating the situation. After the violence of Sunday night, police appear to have adopted a softer approach, withdrawing riot police and trying to negotiate. It is unclear whether that will last if protesters continue to occupy the streets.
Meanwhile there is palpable fear that Beijing may decide to send in the People’s Liberation Army, who maintain a garrison in the city.
Hong Kong’s chief executive has rejected that idea, insisting the city can police itself.
At the moment, it is difficult to tell which way the protests will go.
With reporting from AFP
It’s irrelevant now – only someone who was in regular receipt of donations on behalf of FF would have difficulty remembering whether or not he received a cheque.
Exactly, who cares when they lodged it. The fact remains that Gallagher was a bag man for them, arranging access to the Taoiseach of the day to local business men for 5k a go. Anyone one in business in this country knows that if you did not play ball with FF over the years, that you would be blacklisted.
When he picked it up or when his bosses in FF lodged it is a total distraction.
Anyone here that the lady from Frontline on Pat Kenny today, she asked some questions that Gallagher really needs to answer. She listed events and questioned if he would last a term in presidency.
Well, I never thought I’d see the day when Sinn Fein handed the election to Michael D. Higgins. Wow!
McGuinness has well and truely burned his bridges with what’s left of Fianna Fail (who still hold six more seats than Sinn Fein) so there goes that vote!
And to top it all, it looks as though said Mr. Morgan has links to Sinn Fein too – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356555/Gerry-Adams-fuel-smuggler-Sinn-Fein-leader-rents-election-office-firm-owned-convicted-criminal.html
All bets off?
Ah isn’t grand to see Fianna FAIL finally admit they received money from a convicted fuel smuggler, I wonder how many more dodgy checks and brown envelopes have been handed over in the past. Go on Bertie spill the beans.
Hah …. That’s sean done and dusted
Bye bye Seanie…you nearly had in the bag but in reality it was in the envelope all along.
Hang on, I’m having a little trouble figuring this out.
It is perfectly legal (& morally acceptable, one could argue) to receive donations up to & including €6300 or so…
So, what exactly is the problem?!
Sinn Féin, Fine Gael & Labour all receive such payments on a regular basis…
Genuinely asking, what’s the problem here?
When he was previously trying to downplay his FF past, he always said that he never collected for Fianna Fail. I think I’d bloody remember if I was sent to pick up a €5K cheque!!
I’m with you on this Paul.
I just don’t see the problem.
SF have admitted this morning that it’s bull. FF have come out to say the cheque was already lodged when SG was suppose to have collected it.
He was put on the spot last night on live TV. He tried to answer the question as best he could, given it was thrown at him.
Even if he did collect the cheque, there was nothing illegal about it.
What exactly is everyone’s problem?
If you’re Independent, run as an independent. If you’re Fianna Fáil, run as Fianna Fáil. A supposed independent candidate running around delivering cheques to Cowen only a couple of years back?
Then there’s the disingenuousness and evasiveness of his campaign in general.
And of course there’s the general stench of crony capitalism cute hoor gombeen politics off the whole thing, the very system that’s brought this country to its knees.
@ Paul,
there is no problem. Sinn Fein have pulled another dirty trick that proves to be a pack of lies.
McGuinness benefits from it but claims to know nothing about it
Business as usual.
The only thing to be said is it casts even more doubt on the terrorist McGuinness lies that he knows nothing about murders, bank robberies and so on.
I’m missing something here, what is actually wrong with what he did?
He said he didn’t do it. Why?
No one wants to admit to being the ‘bag man’ Is he really that naive? He didn’t know what was in the envelope?? You’re right though, it’s not exactly controversial stuff!
In fairness he was just using the Martin mcguinness defense.
The real story here, I think, is the connection between Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and this fuel launderer chap… surely this story should be more detrimental to McGuinness’ campaign….
@Noddy: Because he didn’t do it. Read the article. The cheque that he was accused of collecting after the event was lodged before the event.
@Brian, you read the article. It states that “Fianna Fail says” it was lodged the day before. If I’m wrong to state “he said he didn’t do it” then fair enough, I apologise. But there’s a whole wide world of difference between what fianna fail say, and what the truth is.
@ Noddy: As opposed to what a supporter of a group of people that have murdered Gardai, Jean Mc Conville etc. says? However, do I respect your opinion.
What he done wasn’t wrong…but why couldn’t he jus say yeh I collected money for ff, he’s made a right tit of himself now, not remembering collecting an envelope but remembering delivering the photo, mistakenly transferring 80g’s into a wrong acc, can’t be trusted….Bertie all over!!!
There’s a whiff of sulphur about this; firstly McG lands out an accusation but was on the News at One now saying that details are now actually different. Then a tweet from a FAKE twitter account is landed out by Kenny, no wonder Gallagher couldn’t recall it, and panicked. Isn’t there some sort of onus on RTE to verify what’s being read out?
At the very least it’s sloppy journalism
But very entertaining.
Hillarious ! I think FFailers it is time to get a sense of humor .It is over for Uncle Fester , sorry Mr Gallagher . Cronyism and dirty dealings have done him in !:)
Gallagher denied very strongly a week or so ago that he was in any way involved with soliciting donations at this fundraiser the he helped organise.
If it turns out that he did indeed collect a cheque from this man, then Gallagher will have lost all credibility. It doesn’t matter if it was collected before or after the fundraiser, if it turns out that he lied about this as well, then how can we trust him about anything else?
Everyone knew if you were a business man looking for kickbacks and handouts you need to be involved with a political party. And we all know that FF WAS the only party in town on this island!
He calls himself an entrepreneur. Gimme a break. MORE SPOOF AND LIES. The man couldn’t even spell the truth.
If ye can’t forgive sinn Fein yet it’s definitely too soon to forgive fianna fail.
Vote for anyone but FF. Pleeeeease.
Its simple: @seangallagher1 is a spoofer http://bit.ly/tEeLlk
No he isn’t but when you have SF being deceitful about a press conference that was never to take place what can he do? They told a blatant lie last night on TV and not a sound about it today- so who is the spoofed?
Not a fan of Pat Kenny but when he said to Gallagher ” your not exactly Microsoft ” …… Ouch
I am amazed the man said truthfully he could not remember receiving a cheque after the event from Morgan. It turns out he did nt. This was three and half years ago. I cant remember most of last week. Now SF seems to be saying they got it wrong. It seems another form of irish cannilbalism. It was an attempt at a smear. It was thrown out and some people seemed happy for it to be true.
@ Fiachra: He doesn’t remember picking up a cheque because he DIDN’T pick up a cheque- please read the article above which states that the cheque went directly to the party PRIOR to the event.
Why let the facts get in the way of a good story. Ha. Iv a question. What’s the co nesting between the fuel launder and sinn fein.
Brian, it’s his recollection that I’ve a problem with. From last night’s transcript: “…if he gave me an envelope, if he gave me a cheque it was made out to Fianna Fail headquarters and it was delivered and that was that.”
I’ll just repeat: I’d remember getting a cheque (or envelope with whatever in it), from a convicted fuel smuggler with strong ties to SF asking me to deliver it to party HQ. That he can’t recall that… I don’t know!
Btw, the report above does not state the cheque went directly to the party. The FF statement is:
“The records show that Morgan Fuels Ireland Ltd made a donation of €5,000 to Fianna Fáil. This was by way of cheque dated 26th June 2008.”
That can mean anything.
That’s meant to be connecting. Don’t know if it’s auto correct or fat thumbs.
@ Fiachra: ‘A party fundraising event attended by Morgan, who has a conviction for fuel smuggling, was held on 1 July 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk.’
SG was accused of delivering a photo and collecting a cheque AFTER the July 1 event. However:
‘It was lodged to the party’s account on 30 June.’
Does this not mean that SG did not collect the cheque after the event?
Before or after the event Brian, it makes no difference to me. His statement from this afternoon (which you can find on his website) doesn’t say he didn’t get an envelope from Morgan, just that he didn’t get it after the event – what odds the “when” of it!? It’s his recollection of getting anything at all from Morgan that I’ve questioned.
Either way, I’m not voting for a bagman (or a shinner for that matter, in case you were wondering about my motivation in posting here.)
@Fiachra: The original accusation last night was that he collected a cheque after the event. And you stated : ‘I think I’d bloody remember if I was sent to pick up a €5K’. Case Dismissed.
Brian, as I quoted from Sean’s statement earlier, only fair to quote from Morgan’s (via RTE):
“Sean Gallagher , who I had never met previous to this, contacted me by phone. He first phoned me on the 6th June 2008 and invited me to attend the above fundraiser. In the course of the call he requested a donation of €5,000.00 for Fianna Fail. He advised me that this type of fundraising would replace the annual Galway Tent Fundraiser.”
“On the 27th June Sean Gallagher visited my business premises at Killean, County Armagh. I wrote a cheque for €5,000.00 and gave it to him personally.”
I wasn’t going to bother replying to you at all, as responses such as “Case Dismissed” – which is about as weighty an argument as “FACT!” to my mind – makes all other conversation/debate pointless. Conflating what I said – he claimed to have never collected for FF & now couldn’t remember if he got an envelope from a particular man – with your insistence on the sequence of events (prior/after) being all-important is… well, you can probably see where I don’t see the relevance of that.
I was open-minded (ish) about Sean Gallagher at first (i.e., a few weeks ago), and he might’ve got a preference from me, but no longer.
Believe whatever you will, and good luck with that.
Sorry, that should be “… from FF’s statement earlier” (not Sean’s)
@Fiachra: I could also have considered not responding to your comment as your original single-premise argument that “I’d bloody remember if I was sent to pick up a €5K cheque!!” was based on the partisan evidence of a MMcG supporter alone, and therefore was “about as weighty an argument as ‘FACT’”. However, that would be discourteous at best.
Though I respect your opinion, I stand by my argument (based on the facts at that time) that the MMcG allegation last night that the cheque had been collected AFTER the event was false as it was lodged prior to the event. Therefore, it IS relevant as it opposes the allegation.
Healthy discourse is important, but I feel that it is important that discussion should be based on evidence that stands up. The statement by Mr.Morgan on the Six-One news has extended the discourse and tested my opinion of SG further. For the record, I originally considered voting for D Norris, but was swayed and impressed by the fact that SG was unwilling to engage in the negative campaigning of other candidates. This aspect of the campaign, supported by the media, has in my opinion denigrated the process.
In light of the latest statement, I am less sure of my voting preference. However, I will (as i expect you and others will also) consider the veracity of this statement from this MMcG supporter, its function at this point in the debate, and its beneficiaries. Hopefully I will arrive at a timely conclusion based on non-partisan factual evidence that is trustworthy. I concur with your comment to “believe what you will” and I respect your opinion.
This is getting more and more interesting. While I’m glad the connection between SG and Fianna (epic) Fail is coming to the surface and his closeness to them is coming to the surface. What I can’t believe is that smug face Kenny read out a comment from an unofficial source the Shinners are supposed to be wheeling out this dude with the 5k check but it now appears that the Failers have documentary evidence (bank statements) to prove that MMG’s source is maybe not as credible as he made it out to be!!! Come on Shinners wheel him out and let him speak don’t say something and do something else… I can see SG getting small bit of support back cos looks like shinners maybe lying… I know that’s hard to believe… Shinners never lie!!!
Sean backed the SF version in his “mature recollection” moment. He said he picked it up, or is he now trying to convince us that he picked up an empty envelope.
I’d have no meas in what FF HQ spout, they aren’t exactly noted for being honest about Financial matters, are they?. The date of the check being lodged is immaterial.
Course not!
One thing I’ll tell you for nothing as well, the amount of money that is misplaced in FF cumann’s is legendary.
Hmmm, but is it any less questionable to have Sinn Fein do business with the same man? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356555/Gerry-Adams-fuel-smuggler-Sinn-Fein-leader-rents-election-office-firm-owned-convicted-criminal.html
If so, then neither Gallagher nor McGuinness are fit for the office.
Another 5k Cheque special from a GAA club this time.
Lots of Gallagher’s businesses seem to revolve around state funding and grants. Isn’t is ironic how this is a common feature of prominent FF business people.
We all know entrepreneurs like that, one near me has a director whose father was a FF T.D. and charges Govt. bodies 40% more than the competitors. I know cause I contracted for them. Left, as they are too dodgy,. They still get the work, there are countless business like this in Ireland.
The article says that the cheque was lodged before the event. It does not contradict Sean Gallagher’s admission that he was the bagman. Sean confirmed that, while for a moment he had no recollection of receiving the envelope, on mature reflection he now remembers receiving the envelope and passing the envelope to Fianna Fail HQ. It’s not that he was being economical with the truth, but that with all of the money whizzing between enterprise boards, GAA clubs, phoenix companies and “consultancy fees”, it was difficult for him to remember the envelope in question.
I do wish people would stop giving Sean such a hard time. Ignore all of this negative brown envelope, tax dodging stuff and just think of the fact that he’s a very successful ootraprunoor who will turn around the economy and bring millions of jobs to the country. Fact.
Well said.
Millions of jobs!!! Does this mean i’ll have to work?
Thanks for the chuckle Ivor.
Could I have one of then jobs before Christmas?
@martin: No, you can always become a TD
Oh Maria! Oh deary deary dear. Beyond parody, really.
Is there anyone offering money that FF wouldn’t have at a dinner? Gallagher says he knew nothing of the questionable business activities of the donor. The likelihood is that FF has photos of that event in its archives and they should be released before the end of the day. This culture of sealed envelopes, dig outs and cosy select dinners has brought the citizens, families and small businesses of the country to the brink of destitution and in many cases beyond.
I am amazed that Michael D topped the poll last night as for me it was yet another truly unmemorable performaance
True story, Norris was the best performer in the debate. Looks like Micky D on the basis of elimination cos he had less flung at him, just kept his head down.
all I ever pick up from Mickey D is that he is the only one who knows anything about the role of the president and that we wud be blessed to have him. He may be a very good man but to attempt to narrow this race down to two people was extremely disingenuous to the rest of the field
I am amazed that Michael D topped the poll last night as for me it was yet another truly unmemorable performance
Poor old Sean #Gallagher so much money sloshing around.. Its hard to keep track. Money stuffedt in Brown Envelopes. The money found to be resting in you acount. Which Broke company Law. The High RIP-OFF Ireland Fee you charges local GAA clubs. I managed to part pay back the Enterprised Board! You should be gratefull and please do not asked about my tax affairs. Thank you. I only earn €200pw.
what do you expect from a pig but an oink? Of course they ‘re going to protect their boy.
Cute whore SG comes to mind.
The money was in the wrong account. Ye Ted.
I’ve no affiliation with FF.
It didn’t rain yesterday in Dublin.
Oh there they are! , up to now an uncharacteristically sheepish FF comes out from behind its rock to aid their favourite independent offspring. Like sending for an Oil Company during a fire. With friends like these… Quick Sean now is the time to leak the wedding night video.
I am sure mr Gallagher only did fund raising for ff because as an independent his own events were well …a bit lonely.
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