Hong Kong is raising its umbrella again.

(Baonghean.vn) - Leaders of the Hong Kong student movement have once again called on students to take to the streets to protest against the Hong Kong government's last-minute cancellation of negotiations on Thursday evening, October 9th. The government's second-highest ranking leader, Carrie Lam, argued that students blocking streets to intimidate the government into negotiations was unacceptable.

The Federation of Students, Occupy Central, and Scholarism, the three leading organizations in the civil disobedience movement, have vowed to push the movement further if the government does not provide "serious answers" to their demands. These demands include: reviewing the electoral system imposed by the Chinese National People's Congress and removing Leung Chun-ying, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. Alex Chau, president of the Federation of Students, argues that Carrie Lam's argument is merely an "excuse": "We are simply saying that we will act if negotiations fail."

The artwork "Man with an Umbrella" by artist Milk, October 5th.

Sinologist Jean-Philippe Beja, who followed the movement from Hong Kong, commented: "The government has made a bad political move. It's perfectly natural for students to use mass movements to increase their voice at the negotiating table. The refusal to negotiate after 12 days is unbelievable and inevitably raises questions. Either it's a sign of internal paralysis, or they're playing a time game, waiting for the public to turn against the protesters. However, that's a very risky tactic, especially with the weekend approaching (and the community will be distracted)." He also suggested that the timing of the Leung Chun-ying scandal is certainly not a coincidence, implying it could be an honorable exit for Beijing. Clearly, the mainland authorities could use this as a pretext to dismiss Leung Chun-ying. However, Beijing has yet to take any clear action, continuing to criticize the organizations leading the movement. The People's Daily criticized the teachers of Occupy Central – who had promised a civil disobedience movement for a year but could only achieve their goal when students instigated the movement. The newspaper also suggested that the movement was being controlled by foreign powers.

Thuc Anh

(According to Le Monde, October 10)