Finance committee elects head amid chaotic scenes

Finance committee elects head amid chaotic scenes

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Chan Kin-por has been re-elected as the chairman of Legco's finance committee despite attempts by pro-democracy lawmakers to delay the process.



For over nine hours spanning two days, the pan-dems had raised repeated procedural questions and nominated 22 lawmakers to delay the proceedings.



As rows broke out repeatedly, opposition lawmakers Gary Fan, Chu Hoi-dick and Ted Hui were ejected on Monday.



Fan had disrupted the voting and was thrown out after he snatched the ballot boxes. But fellow pan-democrats surrounded him and prevented his ejection, leading to a brief adjournment.



The meeting then resumed in a different room and amid more arguments, a vote was completed and Chan with 36 votes was declared elected to head the committee.



Opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo said Chan is not fit to be chairman again, saying he is a part of the reason why Hong Kong people are continuing their protests against the existing regime.



"He is not here to cooperate with the government, but collaborate with the government, [to do] whatever the government wants," she said.



But Chan refuted criticism from the rival camp, and blamed the pro-democracy side for the chaos in Hong Kong.