Since Saturday, many major cities around the world have followed the lead of protestors on Wall Street to start their own "Occupy" movements. The movement has spread to Asia, but it is definitely not as strong as the Occupy movements in North America in Europe. Though I didn't get to partake in the demonstration at Exchange Square in Central on Saturday, a friend of mine who did participate informed me that there were about two hundred people there, most of them reporters. There are, however, other news reports stating that the total number of protestors on Saturday was 500. In the end, I decided to visit Central and the protest and see how it was doing on its third day (also coincidentally, the one month anniversary of the protest on Wall Street). After watching the news this morning, it seems as if the protest is now concentrated in front of the HSBC headquarters in Central, rather than the Exchange Square.
When I got there, there were about ten tents and at most 30 people sitting around them. People definitely passed by and to take a look at what was going on, reading the signs and taking pictures. There were also signs where you could write your ideas and solutions to the problem of capitalism. I did contribute to one of the signs, though I don't know what will happen to it. Reading the comments, there was no bashing of the movement as far as I can see, which gives me hope but the "Occupy" movement in Hong Kong looks to be rather weak for a city with a population higher than all of Canada. Still, on the news, the protestors did say that they felt their protest was successful because it made people think about the problem of capitalism. I'm not sure if that's really true but I guess it's a start. Here are some pictures.
The psychedelic HSBC headquarters.
What was going on on the main floor.
There were about 10 tents and a whole bunch of tables and signs.
There was cloth and paper where people could write on.
Anti-capitalism signs.
The sign at the bottom says, "The world is ours."
A letter expressing thanks for the support as well as encouragement to join the movement.
This is a great post and timely pictures. I was actually telling my friend that it is time that the media stop snobbing the movement and help disseminate its demands (which are still in the process of being synthesize it seems.) How wouild you compare the protests in HK to those in North America outside the size of it?
ReplyDeleteSeems the protesters took a convenient covered area~ though its not like there's much room to install tents anywhere in the streets of HK...
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, I think the major difference is that the protestors in HK didn't plan on stay in the long term like the ones in my hometown. The expectations seem to be lower but on the first day, there were various groups with a number of grievances - demonstrating the diversity that is found in many of the North American "Occupy" protests.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if they had direct representational democratic meetings like they do in Zucotti Park but the letter above did mention a sense of camaraderie between the protesters. I haven't had the time to watch the news, but there's doesn't seem to be a lot of coverage on it and on the day that I went, the news just said there were protestors, but didn't try to analyze the movement at all. (In Canada, there were so many articles on whether or not the movement had any relevance in Canada because its situation was different from the U.S. etc, etc, etc...) I think in general, the protest is taken less seriously and is more marginalized here.