HONG KONG • Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam visited Beijing yesterday for her first trip to the Chinese capital since her government was handed a crushing defeat in local elections last month, prompting speculation about changes to her leadership team.
During a four-day visit, Mrs Lam is due to discuss the political and economic situation in China-ruled Hong Kong with Chinese officials. She will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow.
Hong Kong has been convulsed by daily and sometimes violent protests for the last six months as demonstrations against a now withdrawn extradition Bill broadened into demands for greater democratic freedom.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched last Sunday to protest against what is seen as Beijing undermining freedoms guaranteed when the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
Many young protesters are also angry at Mrs Lam's government, charging it with failing to address social inequality issues in one of the world's most expensive cities.
"Our sincerity to have dialogue with citizens has not changed," Mrs Lam said in a Facebook post yesterday. She said her governing team would continue to pursue "different formats of dialogue to listen to citizens sincerely."
This past week, Mrs Lam said a Cabinet reshuffle was not an "immediate task" and she would focus her efforts on restoring law and order to Hong Kong.
Still, there are doubts about how long Beijing is willing to back her, especially after pro-democracy candidates won nearly 90 per cent of the seats in district elections last month.
China has condemned the unrest and blamed foreign interference. It denies that it is meddling in Hong Kong's affairs. In an editorial this past week, the official China Daily newspaper called on Hong Kong's government to uphold the rule of law.
Separately, three men were arrested yesterday and charged with testing remote-controlled explosives, police said. Police also found body armour, shields and gas masks, they said.
Police said yesterday they arrested five teenagers in connection with the death of a man hit on the head by a brick during clashes between pro-and anti-government protesters last month.
The three males and two females aged 15 to 18 were arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder, rioting and wounding and had been detained pending further investigation, police said in a statement.
The incident occurred in mid-November as the pro-democracy movement was in its fifth month, with hardcore demonstrators engaged in a "blossom everywhere" campaign across the city to stretch police resources.
Footage of the incident showed rival groups of protesters throwing bricks at each other, during which a man was hit by a brick and fell to the ground. The 70-year-old was rushed to hospital unconscious and certified dead the following day.
He was the second person in less than a week to die in protest-linked incidents.
Mr Alex Chow, a 22-year-old university student, died on Nov 8 from head injuries sustained after a fall in a multi-storey carpark during clashes between police and protesters. Although the events leading to his fall are unclear and disputed, protesters have blamed police.
Allegations of police brutality are one of the movement's rallying cries.
Mr Chow's death was followed three days later by police shooting an unarmed 21-year-old protester in the abdomen, sparking days of unrest that culminated in pitched battles on university campuses.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
