Occupy Central
Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.
Umbrella Movement
The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 74:
Full coverage of the day’s events on 27-02
Key officials to skip Democrat Party's dinner
The Democratic Party is to hold a dinner reception on Friday to mark its 20th anniversary.
However, many key officials who've previously agreed to attend the reception, including the Health Secretary, Ko Wing-man, and the Housing and Transport Secretary, Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, have now declined to attend.
The party's chairwoman, legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing said she said if there is a ban on legislators from attending, she was unaware of it.
Lau said that she always welcomes government officials to come and exchange views with her.
Supporters of Occupy on police visit list
Police phoned 11 prominent Occupy movement supporters yesterday to remind them of "arrest appointments."
Those sessions could lead to charges of joining an unauthorized assembly, and convictions could mean prison.
Among those called were Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing, former chairmen Martin Lee Chu-ming and Albert Ho Chun-yan, and party member Helena Wong Pik-wan.
Also contacted were Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, Labour Party vice chairman Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung and legislators Frederick Fung Kin-kee though he denied taking a call Charles Peter Mok and Ip Kin-yuen.
The other two were League of Social Democrats member Tsang King-shing and Defense of Hong Kong Freedom member James Hon Lin-shan.
Two surprise omissions from the call- up list were Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze- Kiun and Cantonese pop singer Denise Ho Wan-See, though both face action.
Lau said she will report to Wan Chai police headquarters on March 12 as she is leaving Hong Kong this weekend for a legislators' visit to Germany.
The other Democratic Party members will report to the police on Monday.
Benjamin Garvey：Protests against Kweilin hawker’s market ban reflect rift in HK democracy camp
A DAB district councilor succeeded in putting the kibosh on the Lunar New Year Kweilin Street night market in Sham Shui Po this year. The market of hawkers selling cooked food from mobile stalls had revived in recent years and was particularly popular with young people. I had witnessed it personally in 2013 and 2014 and so took an interest when I heard it was threatened. The official reason for the clamp down was hygiene. But people I talked to were sceptical of that. One told me the government is scared of any unauthorized gathering of people after last year’s protests. Another said DAB doesn’t want the hawkers, who pay no rent, to take business away from shop owners and, by extension, their landlords. He connected this to the hegemony of the real estate industry. He also guessed that shop-owners had put pressure on DAB to eliminate the hawkers.
Hawker night markets were popular in Hong Kong when most residents were poor. They were known as the common man’s nightspot (平民夜總會) as they included performers as well as vendors. They started to disappear in the 1980s. One of the best known was daidaatdei (大笪地), located in Sheung Wan.
A recent column by Lingnan University’s student union publishing committee, published by Inmedia, surmised that the revival of the hawker’s market during the Lunar New Year holiday in Kweilin Street had led Hongkongers to reminisce about what their city had been, before the property industry dominated and mainland tourists had overwhelmed it. Apparently, Hongkongers are nostalgic for the past because their city is becoming a harder place to live.
Hongkongers had even come to see the Kweilin Street night market as cultural heritage, treasuring it accordingly. And so its banning was seen as another squelching of local Hong Kong identity by the authorities. And many Hongkongers, especially the young, are sensitive about that, because they’re aware of the broader effort by Beijing to dilute local identity and boost Hongkongers’ identification with the PRC.
The DAB councilor’s unpopular move created space for protest by two pro-democracy groups – one left wing, the other right. I observed both groups’ actions and comparing them is a window, albeit imperfect, on their essential differences.
In Kweilin Street, activists including some from the League of Social Democrats, made speeches. A styrofoam “Lennon Wall” was sticky taped to a railing and messages of support for hawkers written on post-it notes were stuck to it. Coffee and bread with jam was given out for free, as were crackers on skewers, a parody of what real hawkers would sell. There were some musical performances and perhaps 100 or so people milled around. There was no naked flames or cooking and so the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officers on hand had no reason to act.
It felt formulaic
What struck me about the event was that it felt formulaic and contrived. The props looked like something out of a primary school play. Looking through the photos I took, I came across one showing LSD’s Raphael Wong reading his smartphone. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it can be seen as metaphor that the organizers themselves were bored and their minds elsewhere. When I came back a few hours later, it was all gone, meaning it lasted only as long as the activists were there, a few hours – the event had no life of its own. Still, it’s the thought that counts, and having that event was better than nothing at all.
Looking through the photos I took, I came across one showing LSD’s Raphael Wong reading his smartphone. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it can be seen as metaphor that the organizers themselves were bored and their minds elsewhere
The event contrasted starkly with the hawker’s market that sprang up in Portland Street, Mong Kok, apparently under the auspices of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous – it was packed and lively and went on all night. Perhaps one thousand people, mostly young, gathered to enjoy the fish balls, sausages, grilled squid and stinky tofu that real hawkers cooked up over real open flames. Most of these hawkers had offered their fare at the Kweilin Street market in previous years and had moved to Mong Kok to escape the ban. The event was a success because when FEHD officers moved in and told the hawkers to stop cooking they were forced to retreat — the assembled crowd booed, heckled and intimidated them away.
Something was different
I noticed some police standing around in groups but they mainly stood back and just watched. According to an Apple Daily report, at one stage some pulled out their batons and shields. And a photo on Twitter showed a police dog on hand. The Apple Daily reported added that a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing an official from carrying out his duty and attacking police. But, overall, it seemed the event was a success, to the extent that others apparently wanted to be associated with it.
At one stage, I noticed a thin young man walking through the crowd wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words “Neo Democrats.” I struck up a conversation with him. His name was Jeff and he was an executive member of a committee of the political party formed when many left the Democratic Party in 2010. Gary Fan, a moderate localist along with Claudia Mo, is the party’s sole representative in Legco. I don’t know if Jeff had been asked to wear that jacket and walk through the crowd as a human advertisement for the party. But the cynic in me says he might have been as the Neo Democrats sought to establish a connection to such a popular event.
