Yonhap News reported that after 24 days of protest, the government of Hong Kong and the protestors will be officially meeting for the first time.
The talks took place at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine on the 20th at 6 pm. It is believed that student representatives from 8 universities will be meeting to discuss the issues surrounding the 2017 election of Hong Kong's Minister of Administration. The key students who will be speaking on behalf all 8 universities are Carry Ram, and Alex Chau.
Yonhap News reported that the Hong Kong Police Department will be dispatching around 2,000 officers to stand guard around the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine while the talks take place. An additional 1,000 officers will be dispatched to the Mongkok district where the demonstrations were the most frequent and intense.
The demonstrations all started with the issue of democracy in Hong Kong. However, Chung-Ying Lung, the Minister of Administration Hong Kong stated in an interview with the Financial Times that the student protestors "should not test the patience of the Chinese government". Other major newspapers including the New York Times and even Wall Street Journal reported that the minister went as far as the assert that the Hong Kong students must consider themselves lucky that the Chinese government did not directly intervene in the conflict.
Minister Kung also commented on Hong Kong democracy, specifically their system of election which is what sparked the protests in the first place. He mentioned at a press conference on the 20th that without doubt Hong Kong will soon initiate universal suffrage, and that election policies should not be a means to only benefit the rich and powerful minority. Yonhap News commented that the said statement is likely to anger the protestors even more.
Finally, the minister stated that the Hong Kong government is still interested in hearing what the college students have to say.
Meanwhile, all of Hong Kong as well as the world is anticipating the negotiations that will take place at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine between the student representatives and the Hong Kong government.
