2014-12-04
The Occupy Central movement enters its 68th day in Hong Kong, Dec. 4, 2014.
RFA
Student democracy movement leader Joshua Wong vowed on Thursday to continue his hunger strike despite warnings about his health and concern over the future of the two-month-old Occupy Central movement.
Wong, who has been fasting along with two other members of his activist group Scholarism, and who was joined by two other student hunger strikers on Wednesday, says he wants the Hong Kong government to reinstate talks with protesters over their demands for fully democratic elections in 2017.
Wong appeared very weak on Thursday, but apologized after being given glucose when his blood sugar levels plummeted, on advice from a medical team caring for the hunger strikers.
Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health Ko Wing-man warned the fasting students, who pledged to drink only water and eat no food, that hunger striking is bad for their health.
“From a medical point of view, any sort of fast, including that in which nothing is eaten or in which only liquids or water are taken, are all bad for health,” Ko told reporters.
In Taiwan, Wang Dan, a former student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing, called on the five Hong Kong students to end their hunger strike.
“As long as the mountains are green, there will always be fuel for the fire,” Wang wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter if you lose a battle; winning the war is more important.”
Worsening condition
A Scholarism volunteer identified only by his nickname Ernest told RFA that the five hunger strikers’ conditions had already worsened, and that the three who began refusing food on Monday were the weakest.
“There are medical staff who monitor their health at regular intervals, so as to make sure they’re not in danger,” he said.
As the hunger strike continued, the ruling Chinese Communist Party warded off growing international criticism of its refusal to allow the public nomination of candidates in the 2017 elections for the territory’s chief executive.
According to an Aug. 31 decision from the country’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), all five million of Hong Kong’s voters will cast ballots in the poll, but may only choose between two or three candidates vetted by a Beijing-backed election committee.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit out at calls from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel on Wednesday for Beijing to exercise restraint and flexibility in dealing with the wishes of Hong Kong people.
“The Chinese side resolutely opposes any interference in any form by any foreign country,” Hua told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
She repeated Beijing’s claim that the Occupy movement in Hong Kong was incited by “some individuals and forces.”
