Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam faces public for 'dialogue'
September 26, 2019
Carrie Lam held her first dialogue with the Hong Kong public on Thursday as part of a city-wide consultation to resolve the city's political turmoil.
Authorities said they chose 150 people to attend the two-hour meeting via a lottery drawn from more than 20,000 applicants.
X-ray machines and metal detectors were set up to ensure attendees did not bring banned items such as gas masks, helmets, banners and umbrellas.
Upon arrival, Lam was met by hundreds of protesters chanting slogans expressing their demands outside the Hong Kong Queen Elizabeth Stadium, where the session took place.
Crowds of black-clad protesters yelled "Hong Kong people, add oil," an expression meaning "keep your strength up." Some demonstrators formed a human chain.
In her opening remarks, Lam expressed to the public her hopes of bringing about change for the good of all Hong Kongers.
"This is not just a PR show but aimed to bring change," Lam said.
Lam repeated her statement that violence must stop and the rule of law be upheld. She said accusations of police brutality would be thoroughly investigated by a police watchdog body, without the need for a separate independent inquiry.
During the dialogue, several speakers accused Lam's administration of ignoring public needs and worsening the crisis.
“If we want to walk away from the difficulty and find a way out, the government has to take the biggest responsibility to do so," Lam said.
The city has seen almost 17 weeks straight of sometimes violent anti-government protests.
In an op-ed Lam wrote for The New York Times on Wednesday, the leader said the meeting will be the first of "many community dialogues to air the public’s grievances and identify the issues this society faces." Lam added that the issues reflected in those dialogues will be "studied and translated into concrete actions."
According to Lam, the dialogue forms part of a "necessary reconciliation process" to heal the city's "deep wounds." She said she intends to set out "bold initiatives" to solve "deep-seated problems."
Read more: Hong Kong protesters personal data leaked by Russian website
Details of the meeting
Local media reported that police were kept to a minimum of 3,000 officers on standby, equipped with pepper spray, tear gas canisters and shields, and that nearby schools and stores closed early in case of unrest.
Lam currently holds the lowest approval ratings of any post-handover leader in Hong Kong.
The anti-government movement started out as a demonstration against an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kongers to be sent to mainland China for trial, despite Hong Kong having an independent judiciary.
Lam later withdrew the extradition bill on September 4 but pro-democracy protesters continued to demand free elections as well as an independent inquiry into police accountability. Lam's government and Beijing have repeatedly ruled out such requests.
Read more: Joshua Wong: Hong Kong protest 'must continue'
Ranked as the most visited city in the world in 2018, Hong Kong has seen tourism drop to levels not seen since the 2003 SARS epidemic.
mvb/ng (AP, dpa, Reuters)