Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, which was once tremendous, to solve it

Hong Kong Democratic Party for decades was the largest opposition party in the city. The protests led to a comprehensive polling. The legislators started with the officials of the legislative body on the Chinese infringement of the region.

I was born in the nineties of bold hope: that opposition politicians and activists can pressure the Hong Kong rulers in Beijing to achieve them. Prepare To expand democratic freedoms of the city of several million people.

In a growing wave of democracy demands, the party grew to more than 1,000 members of its height in 2008. Its effort to maintain a moderate position that has caused criticism, including from its ranks, who are seeking to pay their utmost effort against Beijing. yet Moderation cannot save Party leaders of Dragnet where China has tightened its control over Hong Kong.

Now it is resolved, and another repression in Beijing’s repression of political opposition in Hong Kong.

Her leaders were arrested and imprisoned for national security. Its members are effectively prevented from running for local positions, and they face harassment and threats routinely. Raising money is difficult.

“We have not achieved what we started doing,” said Farid Lee, a founding member of the party who was not part of the last leadership, referring to the Chinese shift. “Without money or resources, we cannot even survive.”

The party said on Sunday that it had held a preliminary vote and 90 percent of about 110 members of the attendees, who voted to clarify its leaders by dissolving the party. (The party plans to call another vote in the coming months before it is officially resolved.)

Its president, Lo Kin-Hei, has publicly indicated that the political environment was very difficult to survive, but refused to enter into the details. Veteran party members, like Mr. Lee, said that Chinese officials or their brokers urged them to solve.

Other pro -democracy and civil groups have closed since Beijing in 2020 a national security law that grants authorities to sweep opposition authorities, part of a Campaign on freedom of expression in general. Even the polling group, The Public Opinion Research Institute said In February, all its self -funded research will be suspended after the National Security Police has repeatedly detained the institute’s director for its interrogation. Hong Kong government critics have been rejected entry to the city, including a British lawakeP, who tried to visit her new grandson this week.

The Democratic Party was established in Shafaq Hong Kong days as a British colony, as it prepared the city to return to Chinese rule in 1997.

Party founders, Martin Lee, Legislative, and Szeto WahThe leader of the Union led protests against the Communist Party after he sent the forces to crush the pro -democracy protests over the Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. They participated in the founding of a political group that developed in 1994 to the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party sought to hold leaders accountable for the promise of two promises stipulated in the treaties that signed by Britain and China, which is found in the Basic Law, Hong Kong miniature constitution: that the city will retain a high degree of autonomy, and that it will eventually hold the direct elections for its supreme leader.

“They tried to present people in power: this is what we promised, so you have to honor that,” said Victoria Hui, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame, who formulated speeches to Mr. Lee in the early 1990s. “For a long time, they took an upset thing that these words will protect us.”

The party has become a thorn on the side of Beijing. Mr. Lee traveled abroad to pressure Western leaders to hold the Communist Party in the choice, prompting Beijing to describe him as a traitor. His party organized protests to oppose security laws in 2003, which eventually forced the overthrow of Tung Chee-Hwa, the unpopular leader in the city.

But public discontent increased on unemployment, homes, and high competition competitions in Hong Kong. The political system was seen as dominated by the commercial elite and the social elite in the city, and the demands grew for a greater democracy.

The Democratic Party has sometimes targeted criticism, including in 2010 when it negotiated with Beijing officials on a plan To expand the number of elected seats directly In the legislative body. Other opposition lawmakers rejected this measure, saying it was less than true democracy. This step also divided the party, which led to the quit smoking.

Despite the increasing calls for democratic elections, Beijing did not give Hong Kong more public participation in the election of its leader. People occupied Hong Kong neighborhoods for 10 weeks in 2014 in a protest called umbrella movement.

Inside the party, a younger generation began to retreat against the old guard, on the pretext that more work is needed, along with talks. The party, which was losing steadfast voices, succeeded in successful crops of new candidates in 2016 including TED HUI, Lam Cheyuk Ting and Roy CoongExpanding a foothold in the legislative body.

Mr. Hui, who was a deputy until 2020, said that in the past decade, the party’s non -front approach began facing a more impatient audience. He said in an interview: “It was a difficult balance in walking on a moderate path within an extremist society, while also needs to become more striking,” he said in an interview.

The party was arrested among the conflicting political forces. “Their relatively moderate position has not improved the relationship between Hong Kong and Beijing during the past decade.” “When the youngest became more extreme, the party’s influence was a decrease.”

A major challenge came during 2019, when it swept months of anti -government protests. Initially, the marches were friendly to the family, but it descended into violence, as the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails. Although the party has long called for a peaceful protest, its leaders, who seek to preserve unity, have hesitated to coordinate violent tactics of some demonstrators. The younger members tried to the party Media between the demonstrators and the police.

After a pro -democracy camp held informal introductory elections in 2020, two weeks after Beijing imposed the security law, the authorities targeted the candidates who participated. It was many members of the Democratic Party and leaders I swept in collective arrests after months. He was four former legislators from the party I am convicted of national security charges and imprisonment. The government also presented a A reward for arrest Mr. Hui, who fled Hong Kong in 2021 and lives in Australia.

None of the Democratic Party members has occupied an elected position since Beijing imposed a comprehensive reform of the city’s political system in 2021, which requires the candidates to nominate the Legislative Council and the “National” provincial councils examined by Beijing.

For a few years, the Democratic Party held, despite severe restrictions. It sought to provide free legal services to the public and comment on current affairs and government policies.

“Despite the fact that we have no position anywhere, people still trust us, and come to us,” said Emily Lao, a veteran member and former party president. “But, under these circumstances, when people are arrested and so on, I think our members are very brave.”