SUMMARY:Police in Hong Kong have tightened their siege on the campus of the Polytechnic University, where hundreds of protesters are trapped inside. It’s the latest bout of violence in nearly six months of demonstrations -- one China is warning it won't let go too far. Nick Schifrin reports and talks to Kurt Tong, former U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong, about the protesters’ strategy and U.S. response.
SUMMARY:Hong Kong will face its first electoral test since anti-government protests began in June. The District Council elections are usually focused on local community issues and will not change Hong Kong’s political system. But more than half of Hong Kong’s population has registered to vote in what is seen as a timely referendum on support for the movement. Special correspondent Divya Gopalan reports.
SUMMARY:Hong Kong saw a high voter turnout in the local district council polls on Sunday in which 452 seats were at stake. The election, which was peaceful, is being seen as a referendum on the conflict between the city’s administration and the ongoing pro-democracy movement that has gripped Hong Kong for over six months.New York Times reporter Austin Ramzy joins Hari Sreenivasan for more.
SUMMARY: In historically religious Ireland, the voting booths are in churches. But this is not the same country once dominated by Catholicism. A new constitutional amendment up for vote on Friday would allow Parliament to legalize unrestricted abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. And according to initial exit polls, it has succeeded. Nick Schifrin reports.
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Finally tonight, a new referendum in Switzerland to limit immigration is threatening the country’s economic ties with Europe. And it’s raising questions about the rise of anti-immigrant groups across the continent.
By a razor-thin margin, just over 50 percent, Swiss voters on Sunday supported imposing quotas on how many foreigners are allowed to enter the country.
MAN (through interpreter): I am for it because I think we need to start to control the arrival of foreigners. Other countries do it, the United States, Australia. So, I think we should do the same thing.
JEREMY SAITI (through interpreter): Everything is about the economy because people are afraid that immigrants will come here en masse and take their jobs, which, in my opinion, is wrong.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The “stop mass immigration” initiative was launched by the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, or SVP, which holds a quarter of the seats in Parliament. The group focused heavily on fears of overpopulation and a rising number of Muslim immigrants.
It also complicates relations with the European Union. Switzerland is not a member, but does have trade pacts with the 28-nation bloc.
In a radio interview Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned the vote jeopardizes those arrangements.
LAURENT FABIUS, Foreign Minister, France (through interpreter): In concrete terms, since 1999, there have been agreements with Switzerland with regards to free movement of workers mainly, but also to many elements, such that if one element comes under question, in this case the free movement of workers, everything collapses.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In fact, the influence of anti-immigrant factions has been rising across Europe, from Greece, to Italy, Spain, Britain, and the Netherlands.
Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore.
EAMON GILMORE, Foreign Minister, Ireland: I think this is a very disturbing vote. I think we have seen throughout Europe a growth in what I can only call an extreme right agenda, which is quite xenophobic.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Swiss vote could also signal greater support for anti-immigrant candidates running in European Parliament elections this May.
SUMMARY: The European Union is built on the idea of free movement of people and capital, but some factions wish to curb immigration and control their sovereign identity. Judy Woodruff talks to Heather Conley with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Charles Kupchan of Georgetown University about the rising influence of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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