HONG KONG: The founders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy movement surrendered to police Wednesday in a symbolic move, as they try to take the protests off the streets after more than two months of rallies punctuated by violence.
Dozens of supporters, carrying yellow umbrellas which have become a symbol of the movement and shouting “I want true democracy without fear!,” surrounded the trio as they turned themselves in at a central police station.
However Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming quickly emerged from the station, saying they had not been arrested despite admitting “participating in unauthorized assembly.”
“We have not been arrested so we are allowed to leave with no restriction on our liberty,” said Tai.
He told AFP there were “political considerations” behind their swift release to avoid crowds flocking to the protest zones, but said it was inevitable they would eventually be arrested.
“I don’t think the matter will be resolved on this occasion, later we may be arrested, even prosecuted for more serious offenses,” Tai added.
The three had been joined by 82-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, a prominent pro-democracy supporter, who also gave himself up.
About 40 other supporters waiting outside the police station also queued up to fill out forms turning themselves in.
“This is for the fortune of the next generation,” said secondary school teacher April Fan, 55. Police said Wednesday afternoon that 24 people had so far surrendered.
“They were explicitly told by the interviewing officers that illegal occupation of public places was an unlawful act and they should stop such act immediately,” a statement said.
“Police will conduct follow-up investigations based on the information provided.”
The founders’ “surrender” and their call to end the road blockades followed violent clashes between protesters and police outside the government headquarters late Sunday which left dozens injured.
Tai said the Occupy movement would now take a different approach to promoting democracy, including through education and a new social charter. Protesters began blocking three major intersections in late September to demand free leadership elections in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. One has since been cleared by police.
China insists that candidates for the 2017 leadership vote must be vetted by a loyalist committee, which demonstrators say will ensure the election of a pro-Beijing stooge.
China refuses to budge despite the student-led protests and Hong Kong’s current leader Leung Chun-ying has also taken a tougher line since Sunday’s violence.
On Wednesday he rejected a call made by three students on hunger strike, for the constitutional reform process to be re-launched.
Leung’s office said in a statement there was no legal way to restart the process.
“Expressing views on constitutional reform through illegal and confrontational means is bound to be futile,” it added.
HK Occupy protest leaders turn themselves in to police
HK Occupy protest leaders turn themselves in to police
South Korea’s main opposition party taps former party chief as presidential candidate
- Lee, 60, lost the 2022 election to Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections
SEOUL: South Korea’s main liberal opposition party tapped Sunday its former leader Lee Jae-myung as presidential candidate in the upcoming June 3 vote.
The Democratic Party said Lee has won nearly 90 percent of the votes cast during the party’s primary that ended Sunday, defeating two competitors.
Lee, a liberal who wants greater economic parity in South Korea and warmer ties with North Korea, has solidified his position as front-runner to succeed recently ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Lee had led the opposition-controlled parliament’s impeachment of Yoon over his imposition of martial law before the Constitutional Court formally dismissed him in early April. Yoon’s ouster prompted a snap election set for June 3 to find a new president, who’ll be given a full, single five-year term.
Lee, 60, lost the 2022 election to Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections.
He is the clear favorite to win the election.
In a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, 38 percent of respondents chose Lee as their preferred new president, while all other aspirants obtained single-digit support ratings. The main conservative People Power Party is to nominate its candidate next weekend, and its four presidential hopefuls competing to win the party ticket won combined 23 percent of support ratings in the Gallup survey.
Lee, who served as the governor of South Korea’s most populous Gyeonggi province and a mayor of Seongnam city, has long established an image as an anti-establishment figure who can eliminate deep-rooted unfairness, inequality and corruption in South Korea. But his critics view him as a populist who relies on stoking divisions and demonizing opponents and worry his rule would likely end up intensifying a domestic division.
Russia will soon destroy ‘scattered remnants’ of Ukrainian army in Kursk region
- Kyiv denied that its forces had been expelled from Kursk
MOSCOW: A Russian military commander has told President Vladimir Putin that “the scattered remnants” of the Ukrainian army remaining in Russia’s Kursk region will soon be destroyed, the state RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
“At the moment we have recaptured the settlement of Gornal and are entrenched in its streets, which is completely under our control,” the commander was cited as saying, adding that Russian troops continue to clear forest areas west and south of Gornal.
Putin on Saturday hailed what he said was the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces in Kursk after Moscow said they had been expelled from the last village they had been holding.
Kyiv said its forces had not been completely expelled from Kursk and said they were also still operating in Belgorod, another Russian region bordering Ukraine.
All eyes turn to conclave after Pope Francis’s funeral
- With Pope Francis laid to rest, all eyes turn now to the conclave, the secretive meeting of cardinals set to convene within days to elect a new head of the Catholic Church
VATICAN: With Pope Francis laid to rest, all eyes turn now to the conclave, the secretive meeting of cardinals set to convene within days to elect a new head of the Catholic Church.
Alongside world leaders and reigning monarchs, an estimated 400,000 people turned out on Saturday for the Argentine pontiff’s funeral at the Vatican and burial in Rome.
The crowds were a testament to the popularity of Francis, an energetic reformer who championed the poorest and most vulnerable.
Many of those mourning the late pope, who died on Monday aged 88, expressed anxiety about who would succeed him.
“He ended up transforming the Church into something more normal, more human,” said Romina Cacciatore, 48, an Argentinian translator living in Italy.
“I’m worried about what’s coming.”
On Monday morning, at 9:00 am (0700 GMT), cardinals will hold their fifth general meeting since the pope’s death, at which they are expected to pick a date for the conclave.
Held behind locked doors in the frescoed Sistine Chapel, the election of a pope has been a subject of public fascination for centuries.
Cardinal-electors will cast four votes per day until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority, a result broadcast to the waiting world by burning papers that emit white smoke.
Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said last week he expected the conclave to take place on May 5 or 6 — shortly after the nine days of papal mourning, which ends on May 4.
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx told reporters on Saturday the conclave would last just “a few days.”
Francis’s funeral was held in St. Peter’s Square in bright spring sunshine, a mix of solemn ceremony and an outpouring of emotion for the Church’s first Latin American pope.
More crowds gathered on Sunday for the opening for public viewing of his simple marble tomb at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, his favorite church in Rome.
Francis was buried in an alcove of the church, becoming the first pope in more than a century to be interred outside the Vatican.
“It was very emotional” to see his tomb, said 49-year-old Peruvian Tatiana Alva, who wiped away tears after joining hundreds of others filing past the burial place.
“He was very kind, humble. He used language young people could understand. I don’t think the next pope can be the same but I hope he will have an open mind and be realistic about the challenges in the world right now.”
A couple of hours after opening, the large basilica was packed, the crowds periodically shushed over speakers.
Among the mourners were pilgrims and Catholic youth groups who had planned to attend the Sunday canonization of Carlo Acutis, which was postponed after Francis died.
Raphael De Mas Latrie, 45, from France, had been bringing his nine-year-old son to the canonization but they attended the funeral instead, saying they “really appreciated” Francis’s defense of the environment.
“Today in this material world his message made a lot of sense, particularly to young people,” he said.
He added that Francis’s successor did not have to be his likeness, for “every pope has a message for the world today.”
In his homily at the funeral, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re highlighted the Jesuit pope’s defense of migrants, relentless calls for peace and belief that the Church was a “home for all.”
“I hope we get another pope as skilled as Francis at speaking to people’s hearts, at being close to every person, no matter who they are,” 53-year-old Maria Simoni from Rome said.
Many of the mourners expressed hope that the next pope would follow Francis’s example, at a time of widespread global conflict and growing hard-right populism.
Marx said the debate over the next pope was open, adding: “It’s not a question of being conservative or progressive... The new pope must have a universal vision.”
More than 220 of the Church’s 252 cardinals were at Saturday’s funeral. They will gather again on Sunday afternoon at Santa Maria Maggiore to pay their respects at Francis’s tomb.
There will also be a mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at 10:30 am (0830 GMT) on Sunday, led by Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis and is a front-runner to become the next pope.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the conclave. There are 135 currently eligible — most of whom Francis appointed himself.
But experts caution against assuming they will choose someone like him.
Francis, a former archbishop of Buenos Aires who loved being among his flock, was a very different character to his predecessor Benedict XVI, a German theologian better suited to books than kissing babies.
Benedict in turn was a marked change from his Polish predecessor, the charismatic, athletic and hugely popular John Paul II.
Francis’s changes triggered anger among many conservative Catholics and many of them are hoping the next pope will turn the focus back to doctrine.
Some cardinals have admitted the weight of the responsibility that faces them in choosing a new head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
“We feel very small,” Hollerich said last week. “We have to make decisions for the whole Church, so we really need to pray for ourselves.”
Multiple dead after vehicle drives into crowd at Vancouver street festival, police say
VANCOUVER: The driver of a car struck revelers at a street festival in Canada, killing and injuring an unknown number of people at the event celebrating Filipino culture, police said.
The vehicle entered the street at 8:14 p.m. Saturday where people were attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post.
“A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd,” police said. The exact number of dead or injured was not immediately available.
A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the department’s Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said.
The festival was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in still photos from the scene.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event,” Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said in a social media post, adding that the city would provide more information when possible. “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time."
Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian political figures posted messages expressing shock at the violence, condolences for victims and support for the community celebrating its heritage at the festival.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.
“As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families — and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience," wrote Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, who was at the festival earlier in the day.
“My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more,” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre wrote.
David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, said he was shocked and heartbroken. “We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed,” Eby wrote.
Yemen’s Houthis fire missile toward Israel even as US forces strike militia positions
- Missile intercepted before it crossed Israeli territory, Tel Aviv says
- Ongoing US strikes on Houthi targets started March 15
JERUSALEM: Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile early Sunday toward Israel, which the Israeli military said it shot down.
Sirens sounded in parts of Israel around the Dead Sea over the attack, which the Houthis did not immediately claim.
“The missile was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said.
American airstrikes, meanwhile, continued targeting the Houthis overnight into Sunday, part of an intense campaign targeting the rebels that began on March 15.
The US is targeting the Houthis because of the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that is capable of regularly attacking Israel.
Assessing the toll of the month-old US airstrike campaign has been difficult because the military hasn’t released information about the attacks, including what was targeted and how many people were killed. The Houthis, meanwhile, strictly control access to attacked areas and don’t publish complete information on the strikes, many of which likely have targeted military and security sites.
On April 18, a strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest-known attack of the American campaign.
