Hong Kong ‘Democratic’ Opposition Joins the Mob, Drives Carrie Lam Out of Legislature Building

Oct. 17, 2019 (EIRNS)—Carrie Lam attempted to present her third annual policy proposal to the Legislature on Oct. 16, but the so-called “pro-democracy” opposition legislators effectively joined the Jacobin mobs on the streets by interrupting Lam’s speech, driving her out of the chambers. She instead presented her program to the nation by a video address. On Thursday, Oct. 17, the legislature held a session for discussion of the program proposals, but the disrupters again forced the session to shut down.

Lam’s proposals did not give in to the lawless mobs’ demands that she resign, nor to break the Basic Law and impose direct elections, nor to set up a virtual alternative government (as demanded by the last British colonial governor Chris Patten) to investigate the police and the riots.

What she did address is the economic crisis and especially the horrendous housing crisis in Hong Kong, where the real estate moguls have driven rents into the stratosphere. She proposed an emergency fund of $641 million to build 10,000 transitional homes in the next three years for those on the waiting list for public housing. She also said the “Lands Resumption Ordinance” would be invoked to “take back sites being hoarded by developers and use them for housing, an idea floated by pro-establishment politicians and endorsed by Chinese state media,” as reported in South China Morning Post.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019” by a voice vote on Oct. 16. It is expected to pass in the Senate, but must get Trump’s signature to become law (or a Congressional override of any veto). The law mandates that the U.S. must approve annually the Hong Kong government’s adherence to the anti-China mob’s version of human rights and “freedom,” or the U.S. could cut off the special treatment of Hong Kong as a free banking zone—another case of the U.S. shooting itself in the foot in order to contain China. It also calls for sanctions on individuals held responsible for the crime of opposing mob violence and regime change.