An orderly 1st day in reform package debate; Govt reveals plan to turn HSK into a Northwest NT business hub; Police accused of coercion in bomb case. Photo Credit: Chris Lusher
First day of reform package debate ends without drama.
– Lawmakers at last kicked off the debate on political reform proposal that counts as the LegCo Complex tightened security measures to prevent protesters from storming the building
– Pan-dems hoped to end the whole process by tonight while People Power’s Albert Chan and Raymond Chan said they would lengthen it further to Friday night if the pro-est are planning to vote in that morning
– 25 lawmakers had delivered their speech today while LegCo president Jasper Tsang has had to count for quorum for four times
– League of Social Democrats’ Leung Kwok-hung and Civic Party’s Kwok Ka-ki slammed the security check and the deployment of Police officers in the building, claiming that the measures are an insult to the dignity of legislative body
– Accountancy lawmaker Kenneth Leung said he received a phone call the night before the debate urging him to abstain in the vote instead of blocking it; Other pan-dems said they had not been approached in the past few days asking them to support the package
– Wong Ting-kwong was found (ch) watching pictures and video of models during the debate
– Picks of LegCo Questions: 1) Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme; 2) Pollution caused by container vessels; 3) Air traffic management
Government reveals development plan to turn Hung Shui Kiu into a business hub.
– The Planning Department and the Civil Engineering and Development Departmentlaunched a planning and engineering study on the Hug Shui Kiu New Development Area
– The authorities claimed that the new development area will become a “Regional Economic and Civic Hub” in Northwest New Territories, covering some 714 hectares to provide 60,000 flats and 22 million square feet of business area
Politics (general)
– There was jostling at night between protesters supporting and opposing the reform package but the two camps were later separated by the Police
– Spokesperson of “No to Sham Universal Suffrage” Daisy Chan said (ch) more chaotic situations were expected and urged protesters to restrain themselves from any violent acts
– Chan said there will not be further actions if the package is to be voted down by tomorrow night
– The Police reported that protests outside the LegCo Complex were conducted in a generally orderly manner while a 17-year-old man was arrested on a footbridge on Tim Mei Avenue for “possession of offensive weapons”
– Latest results of the joint-university rolling survey showed (ch) net support for the reform package has widened again to 9%
– Meanwhile, Beijing-loyalist Robert Chow Yung said (ch) any crown could only resist the wheel of democracy for a short while
– Veteran democrat Martin Lee and Cardinal Joseph Zen were spotted (ch) entering pro-democratic media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s residence and stayed for about two hours
Police accused of coercion in bomb case.
– Six people who were held for the explosive case accused the Police of assaulting and threatening them to coerce them to cooperate in investigation
– A man arrested said he suffered repeated blows to various parts of his body while a woman complaint about the Police threatening to arrest her husband as well if she refused to cooperate
Cathay pilots to continue work-to-rule action.
– Cathy Pacific pilots have voted to continue a six-moth work-to rule industrial action to show their discontent with rostering arrangement
– The pilots’ union general secretary said it will need to discuss the rostering issue with its member in July to decide its response to the management’s arrangement and new proposal
– Meanwhile, League of Social Democrats’ Wong Ho-ming and a volunteer from Green Sense sought (ch) judicial reviews separately to stop the third runway project
