A candidate in next month’s Kowloon West by-election and two of his supporters were last night forcibly ejected from a briefing for the upcoming electoral contest for Hong Kong’s legislature.
The three, Labour party candidate Lee Cheuk-yan, Mak Tak-ching and Lau Siu-lai, were protesting a decision to ban the latter, a former lawmaker, from re-contesting the seat on November 25.
Earlier this month, Lau became the latest candidate barred from running for office for views expressing support for Hong Kong’s self determination, when electoral returning officer Franco Kwok refused to accept her candidacy, saying he did not believe she would uphold the city’s Basic Law.
After being barred, Lau threw her support behind Lee, whose candidacy was accepted on Thursday.
Last night, the trio were carried out of the session at the Kowloon Bay International Trade and Exhibition Centre by more than a dozen security guards.
They had chanted slogans and unfurled a banner accusing the government of “political screening” candidates and unfairly using past comments to disqualify them from running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-gns2V7D90
The same rationale was used to bar activist from political party Demosisto Agnes Chow for contesting a seat on Hong Kong island earlier this year.
Lau had said in 2016 that she advocated self-determination for Hong Kong and entirely rejected Chinese rule over the semi-autonomous city.
Kwok, who was at last night’s briefing hosted by the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), cited those remarks in his decision to bar the university professor from re-contesting the constituency.
Lau, elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 elections, was one of the six candidates who were stripped of their seats for “improperly” taking their oaths of office.
She was accused of not taking her oath in a “sincere and solemn” manner after she took it in “slow motion”, pausing for six seconds between every word.
Following a controversial ruling by China’s legislature interpreting the Basic Law, all six seats were vacated, and four of them were filled in by-elections in March.
Giving an indication of the tension surrounding the race, a large number of plainclothes police officers were spotted at last night’s briefing, chaired by the EAC’s chairman Justice Barnabas Fung.
According to Apple Daily, on-site security was so strict that even reporters weren’t allowed to bring water bottles or umbrellas into the conference room.
The newspaper reported that more than 30 people showed up as part of the Labour party delegation, but most were not allowed inside.
Speaking to reporters outside the exhibition center, Lau said the group wanted answers.
“We Hongkongers will not bow our heads,” she said. “We need to ask them why they think it’s right to brutally disqualify some candidates from running in Hong Kong’s elections.”
Lee, meanwhile, denied their actions disrupted proceedings.
“I’m here as a candidate to ask Mr Justice Fung to explain why Lau was disqualified,” he said.
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