Joshua Wong, the student leader of the pro-democracy protest movement in China, announced Monday that he has begun a hunger strike to try and pressure Hong Kong chief secretary Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor to meet with students to talk about political reforms in the city.
Chinese political leaders have refused all student demands to screen all candidates for Hong Kong's 2017
leadership elections, according to USA Today. The inaction and the police use of force against the demonstrators have seemed to only strengthen the resolve of the protesters.
"Carrie Lam said earlier the door to dialogue was always open," 18-year-old
Wong said, according to the South China Morning Post. "Our humble demand is to ask for dialogue to discuss the possibility of withdrawing the current [reform] proposal and relaunch the five-step reform process."
Prince Wong Ji-yuet, who told the Morning Post that she would join in the hunger strike as well, said that she hopes the protest will revive plans for talks between the students and the government.
"I knew that from the start of this movement, we [would] have to persist," Wong Ji-yuet told the Morning Post. "We've been talking about [going on a hunger strike] since the very beginning, which we have yet to try. So we decided this is the right time."
Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying told the newspaper that the students' plan to change the city's political system in 2017 is "futile" and that they would be served better looking out for their health.
"Instead of asking us to take care of our body, he should take heed of our request to meet officials," Wong fired back. "I just hope that Leung Chun-ying and Carrie Lam, instead of sending regards, will seriously consider starting a dialogue with students. Then, students wouldn't have to go on hunger strike."
Leung warned the students Monday if they returned to protest that police would take "resolute action" to
disperse them, according to The Guardian.
"Some people have mistaken the police's tolerance for weakness," Leung told reporters. "I call for students who are planning to return to the occupation sites tonight not to do so."
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