Hong Kong Protests,

Believe it or not back in 1898 the British Empire rented Hong Kong from China on a 99 year lease. During this time Hong Kong was run by a Governor General who was appointed by the British Monarch. The last Governor General was Christopher Patten who was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. In 1997 the China decided not to renew the lease so Hong Kong returned to being part of China. Since then Hong Kong has been run by a Chief Executive (essentially a city mayor) who as appointed by a 1,300 member executive committee made up of Communist Party members alongside local civic and business leaders.

When the current Chief Executive term ends in 2017 the Chinese government has decided that he will be replaced by a democratic election. However there will only be three candidates in this election and they will be vetted by the executive committee in advance. Despite this being the most democratic Hong Kong will have ever been at any point in its history this is not enough for a very large proportion of Hong Kong residents. They instead want the Chief Executive to be chosen by a democratic election of unlimited candidates who have not been vetted by the executive committee. In the last week of so students under the banner of "Occupy Central" have taken to the streets demanding this type of election and calling for the current Chief Executive to resign with immediate effect.

With the election not taking place until 2017 not only have the candidates not been nominated but the membership of the executive committee that will nominate those candidates has not been finalised. As such I think the protesters aims will be much better served by them keeping up a constant, unobtrusive pressure on the Chinese government rather then going out for an all or nothing confrontation. For example I kind of get the impression that any Hong Kong business leaders who aren't being seen to display sufficient outrage at the disruption to roads and businesses that the protests are causing are getting a big black mark against their name should they try and become members of that executive committee.

15:25 on 3/10/14 (UK date).