#NOW HKU @HKUniversity is covering up the June 4 slogan on Swire Bridge - slightly over one month after they toppled the #PillarofShame
Today is 28 Dec in lunar calendar, a day for people to thoroughly tidy up their home in order to welcome CNY. The erasure of the June 4 slogan on Swire Bridge means the last piece of June 4 monument in #HKU will be gone.
Last time #HKU took down #PillarofShame in the darkness of night leaving some half hundred reporters staying up till dawn . This time it’s happening in broad day light and fewer than 10 reporters are now at the scene.
Workers are putting up a door at the end of the makeshift coffin-like cover above most of the slogan , leaving three characters meaning “cold blooded slaughter” outside. What next ?
Coffin nailed except for three words “cold blooded slaughter”.
“What about these?” I asked.
“Then you can remember what the university did,” a worker said.
Ten months after the striking four-day marathon bail hearing of 47 pro-dems charged of “conspiracy to subversion” last March, West Kowloon Court today is again running extraordinarily late - from 10.30am to just now - on a side hearing branched from the same case.
Acting chief magistrate Peter Law abruptly adjourned the case after everyone returned to court at 9pm-ish in light of a hour-long dinner break he ordered (tho no dine-in is allowed in the city), as some defendants on remand complained about being given only few pieces of biscuits
There was a brief cross-fire between some defendants and Magistrate Law over the biscuit dinner, an episode which both the leading NSL prosecutor Anthony Chau and Magistrate Peter Law warned that reporters shall bear their own risk if they report.
HK leader #CarrieLam announced that the 21-day mandatory hotel QT for arrivals will be shortened to 14 days plus 7-day self-monitoring at home. Arrivals can leave home in the last week but have to get tested twice. She said it’s a decision based on “pure science”.
Lam also gave advance notice about rolling out vaccine pass in the city ie making it compulsory for people to show vaccine record or exempt before they are allowed to enter premises specified by the government. Lam said this is not forcing people to get jabs…
“If you choose not to get vaccinate and it’s not due to medical reasons , you must bear some consequences which is that you can’t go to many places. This is different from making vaccination legally compulsory,” Lam said.
#BREAKING whole area around the #PillarOfShame in #HKU has been covered up by white plastic sheets and surrounded by yellow boards. Lots of noises can be heard but security guards have been driving me away and asking me not to film, while refusing to answer what’s going on.
A cargo container is placed on the ground outside a cafeteria next to the #PillarOfShame. All the ways around the Pillar have been guarded and blocked and some students said windows facing the Pillar are boarded. The arrangements seem aiming to make sure no image can be captured.
How tightly #HKU has been blocking areas around #PillarOfShame? Not even a food deliverer and a bag of meal he was carrying was allowed in after some 20mins of confusion and negotiation.
Key takeaways from #CarrieLam's post-election/pre-duty visit presser:
Record low turnout: Never set a goal so we didn't fail anything / 4.47 million voters registered and 1.35 million voted so you can't say the election is not significant / I don't know why 3million didn't vote.
Diversified or Homogeneous legislature: I have no opinion if voters choose a certain background and stance out of many - it's voters' autonomy; I personally find the 90 candidates elected of broad representation.
Re BL23 legislation: aim to dish out a general framework by the end of June 2022, but do not expect to complete legislation; won't use 2003 version ; need to take into account of cases under #NSL.
#BREAKING Beijing published a whitepaper entitled "Hong Kong's democratic developments under One Country Two Systems".
The white paper said under British colonial rule, there was no democracy in Hong Kong and after resuming the exercise of sovereignty, the Chinese government established democracy in the HKSAR. news.cn/english/2021-1…
The whitepaper reads like a verdict for the 47 pro-democracy activists charged of "conspiracy to subversion" for joining the unofficial pro-dem primaries in July 2020. And not just that - district council election in 2019 and protests in 2016 LegCo swear-in as well.
Given that the reporting restriction is lifted, I will detail the bail application proceeding that spans from ystd to this morning re the case of 5 #HKAlliance ex leaders charged for refusing to submit info demanded by #nationalsecurity police in this #thread.
The most significant point comes first, the play of bail under #NSL has evolved just now from blanket denial to undeniable bail with condition restricting the defendant's speech.
This morning, #NSL magistrate Peter Law granted bail to all 5 defendants in the case despite ...
...lack of applications from D3 Simon Leung and D4 Chan To-wai with the usual bail conditions (cash, surety, reporting requirements, deposit of travel docs etc) and an additional #NSL condition imposed by the prosecution.