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HK patriotic LegCo members walk out to block individual members-elect from retaking oaths

Xinhua, October 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Patriotic members of the Sixth Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Wednesday staged a walk-out during a session to block individual members-elect from retaking their oaths.

The move came a week after the individual members-elect deliberately used curse words insulting the Chinese nation and the country or added extra phrases into the oath while reading it on Oct. 12 when the sixth LegCo started operation.

At Wednesday's LegCo session, all patriotic members left the LegCo chamber after two members-elect finished their oath-retaking. LegCo President Andrew Leung adjourned the session 15 minutes later due to a lack of quorum.

It is inappropriate to make new arrangements for the members-elect who have yet to apologize for their comments and behaviors at the Oct. 12 swearing-in to retake the oath, legislator Liao Cheung-kong said.

Legislator Tien Puk-sun pointed out that even if the members-elect who deliberately used curse words insulting the Chinese nation and the country apologize, they still should not be allowed to retake the oath, for what they did has exceeded too far the baseline of a LegCo member.

Pro-establishment LegCo members staged the walk-out to prevent the individual members-elect from retaking the oath because patriotic members have heard the voice of the Hong Kong people, legislator Leung Mei-fun stressed.

A wide spectrum of Hong Kong society, including Hong Kong Island Federation, 18 Hong Kong district councils and Hong Kong Commerce and Industry Associations, have slammed the individual LegCo members-elect through parades and statements.

A student from the City University of Hong Kong has initiated a joint signature drive to demand they apologize and retract the insulting comments. So far, more than 400,000 Hong Kong residents have voiced their support of the activity. Endit