China says opposes 'illegal behavior' in Hong Kong
Hong Kong (Reuters) - China said on Sunday it opposes all kinds of illegal behavior in Hong Kong that undermines social stability as pro-democracy supporters geared up for a showdown with police as they push demands for greater political freedoms in the former British colony.
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Violent clashes between Hong Kong riot police and students galvanized tens of thousands of supporters of the city's pro-democracy movement and kick-started a plan to lock down the heart of the Asian financial center early on Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/china-says-opposes-illegal-behavior-hong-kong-093610135--finance.html
Ok here's the upshot on this -- Beijing announced that Hong Kong can't elect just anybody anymore, but rather they can only pick from a slate of Beijing-approved candidates. So that's what the mass protests are about.
Interestingly, I recall reading about the Russian regional elections and voter turnout being so low over the same darn issue -- only kremlin candidates on the ballot.
So we shall see where this goes, and what China does about it.
People in Hong Kong want democracy, not dictatorship. Their student protests won a victory some time ago, that issue was about Beijing wanting to rewrite historical curriculum in Hong Kong schools.
I don't think Beijing will back down unless forced to by out of control unrest and uprising. They want to end democracy in Hong Kong -- it's not a democracy anymore if it's the central (authoritarian communist) government telling you who you can and can't vote for.
It's like a referendum in Crimea with just two "yes" votes, and no way to vote no.
Good luck to the people of Hong Kong. It's too bad the Brits handed their own citizens over to a communist state in the first place. Everyone knew this day would come.