MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - The leaders of a pro-democracy group, Occupy Central launched a mass disobedience campaign Sunday in central Hong Kong.
The activists oppose Beijing's decision in late August to rule out fully democratic elections for the city's leader in 2017.
“As the wheel of time has reached this point, we have decided to arise and act,” a member of Occupy Central was quoted saying by the Financial Times on Sunday.
Protests began when university students, who were later joined by school pupils, stormed government headquarters and went over the fences near Hong Kong's financial district.
On Saturday, Hong Kong police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and arrested about six people. But on Sunday, the crowd came prepared wearing donned goggles, masks and cling film to protect themselves from pepper spray.
Currently, the Hong Kong leader is to be chosen by a 1,200-member committee, known as the National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee, of elites loyal to Beijing.
The National People's Congress, which is the national legislature of the People's Republic of China, passed the resolution on August 31, that two to three candidates for the 2017 election will be proposed by the standing committee, and each candidate must win at least half of the votes from the committee. The general public will then cast votes for the candidates, and the winner will be appointed by the Central Government of China.
Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under "one China, two systems", meaning that under China, the regions such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau would be able to retain autonomy in their economic and political systems.
CY Leung, the pro-Beijing chief executive of Hong Kong, has not made a statement yet despite the ongoing protests and the Chinese government has blocked social media mentioning the Occupy Central group, according to the Financial Times.
