Business groups urge HK democracy protest rethink

Foreign business organisations including an Indian group in Hong Kong today joined the city's billionaire tycoons in opposing a pro-democracy group's plans for an Occupy-style protest while activists burned copies of a policy document asserting Beijing's authority over the Asian financial centre.
In a newspaper ad, the Canadian, Indian, Italian and Bahraini groups called for organisers to rethink plans to blockade the central business district to press for full democracy.
It is the first time foreign businesses have waded into the debate over Hong Kong's political future, which intensified after Beijing released a policy paper yesterday reiterating that it has ultimate control over the former British colony.

The document was seen as a warning ahead of the protest.
Outraged pro-democracy activists reacted by demonstrating in front of the Chinese central government's liaison office, burning copies of the paper.
Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China in 1997. Under a principle known as "one country, two systems," the freewheeling capitalist bastion is allowed to keep Western-style civil liberties until 2047.

In their advertisement, the business groups said they had "grave concern" that the pro-democracy protest movement was a threat that could "paralyse" the financial district.
"Occupy Central could potentially cripple commerce in the Central Business District, impacting small local businesses and large multinational operations," the ads said. It warned that newspaper vendors, restaurants and fast food outlets could be affected.

The protest organisers should reconsider their "disruptive plans," it said.
The Occupy Central protest calls for 10,000 people to take over the streets of the financial district sometime in the coming months if the government fails to come up with a satisfactory reform proposal to choose the city's next leader, who is currently picked by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elites.
Beijing has pledged that Hong Kong can choose its own leader in 2017 but has insisted candidates must be acceptable to the central government, rejecting calls for them to be nominated by the public.