Occupy returns to the streets: "Hong Kong like North Korea; a false democracy"
Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - " Hong Kong is becoming more and more like North Korea, because the democracy that officials talk about seems fake ": says 14 year-old Gabriel Lam, who attended yesterday's demonstration called by the Central Occupy Movement demanding real democracy for the territory.
Gabriel carried a flag with the taipan, the junket boat symbol of Hong Kong, and the colors of the flag of North Korea in yesterday's march that took place downtown. The event was attended by 13 thousand people, although police say the number of protesters were half. On the other hand there were 2 thousand policemen who controlled the demonstrators, fearing new occupations of public land. Many carried a yellow umbrella, symbolic of the Occupy movement because in previous events umbrellas were used to defend protesters from the pepper spray and water cannons fired by the police.
For 79 days, from late September to early December last year, the Occupy movement blocked some downtown streets demanding that the population be guaranteed real universal suffrage in the selection of their governor and parliament. China has decided that the entire population may vote for the chief executive, but only choose from candidates first approved by Beijing.
Yesterday's march was launched because the Hong Kong parliament is discussing political reform, that the Democrats want MPs to boycott. Some of them asked for a meeting with the Chinese central government, but so far there has been no response.
Last year's protests garnered the support of hundreds of thousands of people. The scant presence yesterday has led critics to conclude that the population of Hong Kong is tired and ready to accept orders from Beijing. Organizers say instead that people are just tired of the traditional ways of protest and are looking for new creative ways to express their dissent.
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