Aug 21, 2014 1:44PM UTC
People fill in a street during a march at an annual pro-democracy protest in downtown Hong Kong on July 1. Pic: AP.
Although Sunday’s pro-Beijing march through the streets of Hong Kong resembled more of an all-inclusive sightseeing tour with transport, group leaders and a paid lunch provided for all, the demonstration was an outright show of strength from Beijing that could be the writing on the wall for Hong Kong’s hopes of true democracy.
The political drama that has played out in the ex-British colony over the summer months is nearing its critical juncture this coming week when the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPC) will meet in Beijing. The NPC will outline the guidelines for the 2017 election, which will determine whether Hong Kong will have the right to nominate its own candidates and elect its own leader.
As it stands, Beijing has permitted Hong Kong to hold elections to decide its own chief executive in 2017, a big step for the Communist Party of China (CPC). However, the kicker is that all candidates must be chosen by a nominating committee that is stacked in Beijing’s favour and can potentially allow the CPC decide who the candidates will be. In the opinion of Hong Kong democrats, this therefore renders the 2017 “democratic” elections meaningless, and backtracks on Beijing’s previous promise in 2007 to allow Hong Kong universal suffrage to elect their own chief executive in 2017.
The last few months have seen Hong Kong overrun with protests and counterprotests, the large majority of which have been peaceful but have inevitably polarized Hong Kong society. On July 1, the pro-democracy movement Occupy Central – which has combined all democratic parties, student groups and citizens – led a protest march through the streets of Hong Kong that was estimated by event organizers to have 510,000 participants. The Hong Kong police force later reduced that number to a mere 98,000. Then last Sunday, the pro-establishment movement called the Alliance for Peace and Democracy held a march which they estimated involved 193,000 protestors, which the police of course lowered to 118,000 and opposition groups lowered even further to 90,000.
These two marches have been the most notable protests from both sides, but Sunday’s march organizers have been exposed by Hong Kong media as coercing participants with the promise of free food, free transport and payments of up to $50 to make an appearance. Reports state that many were poor elderly farmers from outside Hong Kong, and a considerable number were Chinese mainlanders were filmed arriving in separate groups with team leaders directing their movements. This has lead to the conclusion that the demonstration was CPC sponsored.
