Albert Ho, a prominent lawmaker, had to be escorted by police from Victoria Park, where he had attended a forum on an electoral reform package that will be debated in Hong Kong's Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Ho, who was unharmed, left in his car under a police escort. One officer was pushed to the ground during the chaotic scene, while a 19-year-old man was arrested for disorderly behaviour and later released, police said.

"It was no big deal -- just angry youths who expressed a lot of dissatisfaction and anger over my political position," the veteran lawmaker told AFP after the incident.

"But this is a way for us to break the deadlock (on political reform) and move forward," he added.

Ho had angered the youths by supporting a plan to raise the number of directly elected representatives in the legislative assembly, where half the number of seats are currently filled by Beijing-approved candidates.

The city's government will unveil a reform plan on Monday, and it was reported Sunday that a compromise, approved by both Beijing and most of the assembly's pro-democrats, had made likely its approval on Wednesday.

At present, only half of Hong Kong's 60 legislative seats are directly elected by voters. The rest are picked by so-called "functional constituencies" which consist mostly of pro-Beijing professional elites.

The new plan, proposed by Ho's Democratic Party, which has nine seats in the assembly, will allow a further five lawmakers to be directly elected to the functional constituency seats, according to the Sunday Morning Post.

Critics lambasted Tsang's original plan because it stopped short of one-person, one-vote and proposed only an increase in the size of the assembly and the Beijing-appointed committee that chooses the city's chief executive.

Democracy figurehead Martin Lee said the revised plan is a "huge improvement" on the government's original blueprint, but warned that it did nothing to clarify how Hong Kong would achieve universal suffrage.

"This is a huge improvement on the government's plan -- there's no doubt about that," he told AFP. "But we must be careful and look to the future."

Beijing has said that, at the earliest, universal suffrage can be ushered in for the election of Hong Kong's chief executive in 2017 and the legislative assembly in 2020.

That timetable has been criticised by the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong, which was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 amid assurances from Beijing of broad autonomy for the territory.

earlier related report
Hong Kong leader concedes defeat in reform debate
Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang on Friday conceded he had lost vital ground to the Chinese territory's pro-democracy camp after a much-derided performance in a landmark TV debate with the opposition.

The rival camp saw new momentum for its campaign for universal suffrage in the self-governing region of China, following Thursday night's televised encounter between Chief Executive Tsang and Civic Party leader Audrey Eu.

In self-mocking tones, Tsang said his performance in the first such TV debate was akin to the struggling South Koreans in a World Cup match won 4-1 by Argentina.

"My wife said I couldn't even survive until half-time. She said if I couldn't even beat her in arguments at home, how could I win over a veteran barrister like Audrey Eu?" he told a packed audience at a Rotary luncheon.

"But I tried my best," the former civil servant said.

The city's democrats want a firm blueprint for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule with the promise of broad autonomy in 1997.

They have lambasted Tsang's latest reform plan, which stops well short of one-person-one-vote by proposing only an increase in the sizes of the Legislative Council and the body that elects the chief executive.

The government will need the support of a two-third majority in the 60-seat legislature to secure passage of the reform plan in a vote on June 23, but the 23 pro-democracy lawmakers say they will block it.

Tsang admitted that his current plan might come to naught, but vowed to keep cajoling the democrats to reach a compromise.

"I think the negotiation will probably achieve nothing. Whether we can see a brighter morning will depend on whether political parties can put society's collective well-being ahead of their party interests," he said.

Eu was widely credited with dominating Tsang in the debate, her quick-thinking courtroom style contrasting with the chief executive's plodding delivery and reliance on written notes.

"How can your package bring us towards the ultimate goal of universal suffrage? I know you are Christian but we can't just rely on trust. Where is the blueprint? Is it like a promise written in water?" Eu asked at one point.

The Hong Kong Standard described the debate as a "public relations disaster" for the government, as political commentators across the spectrum and snap polls picked Eu as the overwhelming winner.

Lam Fai, a leader of the Post 80s, a group of university students and young professionals, said the campaign for universal suffrage had been strengthened.

"Rather than changing the mind of his opponents, we think that Tsang has hardened the opposition to his reform plan following the debate," he said.

At present, only half of Hong Kong's 60 legislative seats are directly elected. The rest are picked by so-called "functional constituencies", which consist mostly of pro-Beijing professional elites.

Hong Kong's chief executive is chosen by a separate election committee whose 800 members are handpicked by Beijing.

Under the latest proposal, the government wants to raise the number of directly lawmakers by five and increase the number of election committee members to 1,200 in 2012 to pave the way for eventual universal suffrage.

But critics said Tsang's faltering performance could give Beijing pause for thought, as centrist democrats push for 10 more directly elected seats.

"I think there could be major changes in Beijing's stance in these coming days," City University of Hong Kong political analyst James Sung told AFP.

"They may choose to adopt the moderate democrats' proposal, seeing that there is no hope for the reform plan to be passed by lawmakers," he said.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News