Occupy Central’s bid to set up company rejected

Gary Cheung, Tony Cheung | 12 May 2014 | SCMP

“It was inappropriate [to compare us with a triad society] because a triad society’s objective is to engage in criminal acts,”

“Our goal is to achieve universal suffrage, and we have deliberation and voting before we decide” whether civil disobedience is required. “Many organisations, such as Greenpeace, League of Social Democrats and People Power, could undertake acts of civil disobedience and yet they are registered as companies in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong’s Companies Registry turned down a bid by Occupy Central to register as a company, something one person familiar with the matter compared to an application by a “triad society”.

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Democracy alliance chief urges unity to beat chief executive candidate screening

Tanna Chong | 11 May 2014 | SCMP

“Our core struggle is to fight off political screening in the 2017 chief executive election. Only unity can mobilise Hongkongers’ support, enabling us to exert pressure on Beijing and the government,”

Professor Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, the alliance’s convenor, said only unity could give the camp sufficient strength to bargain with Beijing.

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Can alliance survive after Occupy vote?

Gary Cheung, Tanna Chong and Tony Cheung | 8 May 2014 | SCMP

On the face of it, radical pan-democrats were the winners of Occupy Central’s final “deliberation day”. Their supporters ensured that all three proposals to be put to a public vote next month would see voters have the power to nominate candidates for chief executive in 2017.

Yet the result of Tuesday’s shortlisting, by 2,500 activists, is likely to deepen the rift between radicals and moderates, who wanted the public to be able to pick a proposal that left nomination to a nominating committee, as stipulated by the Basic Law.

Radicals now face the question of whether enough people will vote to make the citywide “referendum” from June 20 to 22 a worthwhile exercise.

Meanwhile, one key question for the camp as a whole is whether the Alliance for True Democracy, which brings together 26 of the 27 pan-democratic lawmakers, can hold together.

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