Record numbers vote in Hong Kong amid angry calls for democracy

A record 1,104 candidates are vying for 452 seats and a record 4.1 million Hong Kong people have enrolled to vote. (AP)
Updated 26 November 2019
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Record numbers vote in Hong Kong amid angry calls for democracy

  • Voter turnout in the first three hours was nearly three times that for the previous election four years ago
  • A record 1,104 candidates are vying for 452 seats and a record 4.1 million Hong Kong people have enrolled to vote

HONG KONG: Record numbers of Hong Kong people voted on Sunday in district elections viewed as a barometer of support for city leader Carrie Lam, a turnout apparently triggered by six months of often violent pro-democracy protests.

Brutal attacks on election candidates in recent weeks have thrust the lowest tier of government in the Chinese-ruled city into the world spotlight as Lam struggles to quash angry demands for universal suffrage.

Government data showed more than 1.9 million people had voted by 3.30 p.m., or a turnout rate of 47 percent, with seven hours left until polling stations closed, surpassing the 1.47 million who voted in the last district elections four years ago. Police presence was thin.

First results should start trickling in before midnight.

Ming Lee, 26, who works in event production, said she hoped the higher turnout would benefit the pro-democracy camp that is battling some seats that were once uncontested and dominated by pro-Beijing candidates.

“I hope this vote can counter the voice of the pro-establishment, so as to bring in more voices from the democrats,” she said. “The social problems encouraged people to vote and to focus on political issues.”

The voter numbers showed people’s determination, said Tsz, 30, who works in the service industry.

“The high turnout rate ... definitely reflects Hong Kong people’s hope for genuine universal suffrage,” he said.

Jimmy Sham, a candidate for the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized some of the mass anti-government rallies of recent months, was beaten by men with hammers in October.

“We can see Hongkongers are longing for a chance to express their stand,” he said. “We don’t know yet, at the end of the day, if the democrats can win a majority. But I hope our Hong Kong citizens can vote for the future of Hong Kong.”

Beijing-backed Lam cast her ballot in front of television cameras and pledged that her government, widely seen as out of touch, would listen “more intensively” to the views of district councils.

“I hope this kind of stability and calm is not only for today’s election, but to show that everyone does not want Hong Kong to fall into a chaotic situation again,” Lam said.

The anti-China protests have at times forced the closure of government, businesses and schools in the city’s worst political crisis in decades, as police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon in response to petrol bombs, rocks and occasionally bows and arrows.

A record 1,104 candidates were vying for 452 seats and a record 4.1 million people have enrolled to vote for district councilors who control some spending and decide issues such as recycling and public health.

If the pro-democracy campaigners gain control, they could secure six seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, or parliament, and 117 seats on the 1,200-member panel that selects its chief executive.

Restaurant manager Jeremy Chan saw the elections in the Asian financial hub as offering Beijing supporters a chance to share their opinions.

“They believe they are fighting for democracy, fighting for Hong Kong, but the rioters only listen to what they want to hear,” said the 55-year-old, citing vandalism of businesses seen as pro-Beijing. “Freedom of speech is lost.”

The protests started over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial but rapidly evolved into calls for full democracy, posing the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

Sunday was the seventh day of a stand-off at Polytechnic University, its campus surrounded by police as some protesters hid out on the sprawling grounds.

“The district council election is almost like a referendum on recent months of social activity,” said a protester clad in a red university tracksuit, his face covered by a red mask, unable to escape without being caught.

“... My personal liberty to vote has been violated,” he added.

Demonstrators are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. They say they are also responding to perceived police brutality.

China denies interfering and says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula for the autonomy of Hong Kong. Police say they have shown restraint in the face of potentially deadly attacks.


G20 leaders gather for deadlocked talks on climate, Middle East, Ukraine wars

Updated 18 November 2024
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G20 leaders gather for deadlocked talks on climate, Middle East, Ukraine wars

  • Wars which have bitterly divided G20 members are set to feature prominently in discussions in Brazil
  • Biden will attend his last summit of world’s leading economies with China’s XI as the most influential leader

Rio de Janeiro: G20 leaders began arriving for a summit in Brazil on Monday to try reignite deadlocked climate talks and overcome their differences on the Middle East and Ukraine wars ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

US President Joe Biden will attend his last summit of the world’s leading economies, but as a lame duck leader eclipsed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the most influential leader at this year’s meeting.

Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is using his hosting duties to promote issues close to his heart, including fighting hunger and climate change and taxing the super-rich.

But the wars which have bitterly divided G20 members are also set to feature prominently in the discussions.

A Brazilian foreign ministry source said Monday that some countries wanted to renegotiate a draft summit communique.

“For Brazil and other countries the text is already finalized, but some countries want to open up some points on wars and climate,” he told AFP.

Biden’s decision Sunday to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to strike targets inside Russia — a major policy shift — could prompt European allies to also review their stance.

G20 leaders are also under pressure to try rescue UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, which have stalled on the issue of greater climate finance for developing countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for G20 members, who account for 80 percent of global emissions, to show “leadership” to facilitate a deal.

Security is tight for the gathering, which comes days after a failed bomb attack on Brazil’s Supreme Court in Brasilia by a suspected far-right extremist, who killed himself in the process.

The get-together will cap a farewell diplomatic tour by Biden which took him to Lima for a meeting of Asia-Pacific trading partners, and then to the Amazon in the first such visit for a sitting US president.

Biden, who has looked to burnish his legacy as time runs down on his presidency, insisted in the Amazon that his climate record would survive another Trump mandate.

All eyes at the stalled COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan are on Rio to break an impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.

Rich countries want fast-developing economies like China and Gulf states to also put their hands in their pockets.

The meeting comes in a year marked by another grim litany of extreme weather events, including Brazil’s worst wildfire season in over a decade, fueled by a record drought blamed at least partly on climate change.

At the last G20 in India, leaders called for a tripling of renewable energy sources by the end of the decade, but without explicitly calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels.

Conspicuously absent from the summit is Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose arrest is sought by the International Criminal Court over the Ukraine war.

Lula, 79, told Brazil’s GloboNews channel on Sunday that he did not want the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to take the focus off global poverty.

“Because if not, we will not discuss other things which are more important for people that are not at war, who are poor people and invisible to the world,” he said.

The summit opens on Monday with Lula, a former steelworker who grew up in poverty, launching a “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.”

Brazil is also pushing for higher taxes on billionaires.

Lula had faced resistance to parts of his agenda from Argentinian President Javier Milei, a libertarian Trump uber-fan who met the Republican last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The head of the Argentine delegation, Federico Pinedo, told AFP that Buenos Aires has raised some objections and would not “necessarily” sign the text, however. He did not elaborate.

But the Brazilian foreign ministry source on Monday downplayed the likelihood of Argentina blocking a consensus.


Why has ethnic violence escalated in India’s Manipur state again?

Updated 18 November 2024
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Why has ethnic violence escalated in India’s Manipur state again?

  • On May 3, 2023, members of the Kuki and Naga tribes launched protest against extension of benefits to dominant Meiteis
  • Latest violence flared this month after 31-year-old woman from Kuki tribe was found burned to death in a village in Jiribam district

Hundreds of people defied a curfew to stage demonstrations in India’s northeastern state of Manipur over the weekend and 23 were arrested for violence as tensions between two ethnic communities flared up again.
These are the reasons behind the violence in the border state.

HOW DID THE MANIPUR VIOLENCE BEGIN?

On May 3, 2023, members of the Kuki and Naga tribes, who inhabit Manipur’s hills and are regarded as Scheduled Tribes, or India’s most disadvantaged groups, launched a protest against the possible extension of their benefits to the dominant Meiteis.
The Meitei have sought special benefits for more than a decade, but received a fillip in April last year after the Manipur High Court recommended the state government should consider the demand and set a deadline of mid-May.
Meiteis account for half of Manipur’s population and extending limited affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would get a share of education and government jobs reserved for Kukis and Nagas.
Meiteis have traditionally lived in Manipur’s more prosperous valley region that makes up 10 percent of the state’s area.
They have also had better access to employment and economic opportunities. Nagas and Kukis live in the poorly developed hill regions.
The imbalance in development that has favored the valley over the hills has been a point of contention and rivalry between the ethnic groups.

WHAT WERE THE TRIGGERS?

The groups co-existed peacefully until unrelated events in 2023 exposed old faultlines.
Manipur shares a nearly 400-km (250-mile) border with Myanmar and the coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the Indian state.
Kukis share ethnic lineage with Myanmar’s Chin tribe and Meiteis feared they would be outnumbered by the arrival of the refugees.

WHY IS PEACE YET TO RETURN?

Both the Meiteis and Kukis are known to be flush with arms, including automatic weapons either stolen from the state police or sourced from Myanmar.
The Indian Army and federal paramilitary forces in the state cannot act independently and are legally bound to work with state police and authorities, who analysts say are also divided along ethnic lines.
Kukis also accuse Biren Singh, the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state and a Meitei, of complicity in violence against them and have sought his removal. Singh denies the accusations.

WHAT IS BEHIND THE LATEST SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE?

The latest violence flared this month after a 31-year-old Kuki woman was found burned to death in a village in Jiribam district, an area that was untouched by the conflict until June.
Kuki groups blamed Meitei militants for the act.
Kukis and Meiteis have moved to separate parts elsewhere in Manipur since the clashes last year but Jiribam still has a mixed population, leading to tensions and violence.
Days after the incident, 10 armed Kuki men were killed in a gunfight with security forces after they tried to attack a police station in Jiribam district, and security forces retaliated. During this gunfight, a Meitei family of six people went missing.
On Friday, bodies of three of the six were found floating in a river, triggering angry protests in the state capital Imphal. Police said on Sunday they had arrested 23 people for ransacking and setting fire to the homes of lawmakers and ministers, in a second straight day of unrest in the area.


Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year

Updated 18 November 2024
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Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year

  • New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
  • PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels

NEW DELHI: New Delhi was in a medical emergency on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest level this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.

Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.

Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.

“All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”

She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing the extreme levels of pollution.

“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.

“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”

Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.

“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.

“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”

Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.

“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said.


Emergency declared in New Delhi as smog hits highest level this year

Updated 18 November 2024
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Emergency declared in New Delhi as smog hits highest level this year

  • New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
  • PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels

New Delhi: New Delhi was in a state of ‘medical emergency’ on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest levels this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.

Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.

Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.

 “All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”

She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing extreme levels of pollution.

“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.

“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”

Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.

“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.

“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”

Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.

“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said. 


Palestinian NGO to ask UK court to block F-35 parts to Israel over Gaza war

Updated 18 November 2024
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Palestinian NGO to ask UK court to block F-35 parts to Israel over Gaza war

  • West Bank-based Al-Haq is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade at London’s High Court

LONDON: Britain is allowing parts for F-35 fighter jets to be exported to Israel despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, lawyers for a Palestinian rights group told a London court on Monday.
West Bank-based Al-Haq, which documents alleged rights violations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade at London’s High Court.
Israel has been accused of violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza war, with the UN Human Rights Office saying nearly 70 percent of fatalities it has verified were women and children, a report Israel rejected.
Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Al-Haq’s case comes after Britain in September suspended 30 of 350 arms export licenses, though it exempted the indirect export of F-35 parts, citing the impact on the global F-35 program.
Al-Haq argues that decision was unlawful as there is a clear risk F-35s could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.
British government lawyers said in documents for Monday’s hearing that ministers assessed Israel had committed possible breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees.
Britain also “accepts that there is clear risk that F-35 components might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL,” its lawyer James Eadie said.
Eadie added that Britain had nonetheless decided that F-35 components should still be exported, quoting from advice to defense minister John Healey that suspending F-35 parts “would have a profound impact on international peace and security.”
A full hearing of Al-Haq’s legal challenge is likely to be heard early in 2025.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in attacks on communities in southern Israel that day, and hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.