Occupy Movement Vows to Take Fight for Democracy to Legislative Council

MOSCOW, December 18 (Sputnik) — As final remnants of Hong Kong's Occupy Central protest movement were cleared last week, organizers of the so-called Umbrella Revolution laid out plans to take their fight against Beijing's decision to pick future leadership to the legislature, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.

"We will have to make sure lawmakers will veto the government proposal [to vet candidates for 2017 chief executive elections]," the publication quoted Occupy Central co-founder Chan Kin-man in a local radio interview.

According to the media, in mid-2015 the Hong Kong Legislative Council is expected to vote on an electoral reform package that opponents fear would lead to a pro-Beijing Chief Executive's election three years from now.

Thus, Chan stressed, "although the occupation has ended, Occupy Central has not finished its job."

The Occupy Central campaign was launched in September, following Beijing's decision to vet candidates, running in the special administrative region's 2017 chief executive election. Activists opposing the decision took to the streets demanding democratic elections, ending 78 days later and resulting in numerous arrests and clashes with police.

Following more than 100 years of British rule, Hong Kong was handed to China under the 1984 Joint Declaration in 1997 under the "one country, two systems" principle that stipulated the continuity of the special administrative region's capitalist system until 2047.