C.Y. Leung issues strongest warning yet to Occupy Central protesters
Citing Chinese saying on limits to tolerance, chief executive tells protesters that stand-offs by police at sit-in sites are not sign of weakness
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has issued his strongest warning yet about clearing the nine-week-old Occupy Central protest sites, hours after overnight clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters who laid siege to government headquarters in Admiralty.
He warned that just because police had not yet taken action to clear protesters, the demonstrators it was not because they were incapable of doing so and their inaction was not a sign of weakness.
The administration yesterday issued a statement condemning "violent radicals" who repeatedly attempted to storm government headquarters and charged police lines.
This morning he expanded upon the theme, blaming the student groups who organised Sunday night's violent protest for drafting in demonstrators from Mong Kok to join the Admiralty protest. Before being shut down by police, demonstrations in Mong Kok had been far more volatile than those on Hong Kong island.
"Now the Federation of Students and Scholarism have mobilised the Mong Kok protesters to Admiralty and Tamar. This worries me very much," he said.
Leung also said there growing calls from the public for sites to be cleared. "Many residents are of the view that there is a limit to their tolerance," he said.