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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Lam appeals for calm but offers no concessions after poll drubbing

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HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam renewed her appeals for peace in the Chinese-ruled city on Friday but failed to offer any concessions to anti-government protesters despite a resounding victory for pro-democracy parties in local elections.


Appearing tired and drawn, Lam spoke a day after results showed democratic candidates secured almost 90 per cent of 452 district council seats in Sunday’s elections, which were widely seen as a barometer of the opposition to the Beijing-backed politician following months of unrest.


China, which has blamed foreign forces for fomenting unrest, has not directly commented on the results, and news outlets in its tightly controlled media largely avoided detailed reporting of how Hong Kongers voted.


On Tuesday, top diplomat Yang Jiechi condemned the passing of US legislation supporting protesters, saying China had “expressed our severe position to the American side,” according to state news agency Xinhua.


A day earlier, the foreign ministry summoned US Ambassador Terry Branstad to protest the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which it said amounted to interference in an internal Chinese matter.


Lam acknowledged that voters in the city wanted to express their views on many issues, including “deficiencies in governance”.


She thanked people for voting peacefully and hoped the calm weekend was a signal that residents want an end to unrest that has convulsed the city for six months.


“Everybody wants to go back to their normal life and this requires the concerted efforts of every one of us,” Lam said during her weekly address at the government’s headquarters.


“So, as I have said repeatedly, resorting to violence will not give us that way forward. So please, please help us to maintain the relative calm and peace...and provide a good basis for Hong Kong to move forward.”


UNIVERSITY STANDOFF


While calm has descended across most of the city, a handful of protesters remain holed up in Polytechnic University, surrounded by police following clashes at the campus on Kowloon peninsula in the run-up to elections. — Reuters


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