2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign

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The yellow ribbon is seen as the symbol of this campaign.[1]

The 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign, also known as 922 Class Boycott and 926 Class Boycott, is a

2016 and 2017 Hong Kong Political Reform.[2][3] The campaign, jointly organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, was participated in by university students from 22 to 26 September and later also by secondary school students on 26 September. The student movement evolved into the 2014 Hong Kong protests
in which several regions across the Victoria Harbour were occupied by pro-democracy protesters.

Background

The arrangement of the 926 Class Boycott being announced by Scholarism

On 31 August 2014, the

Election Committee in the previous system.[4] Hong Kong students were dissatisfied of the framework, feeling it is too conservative and restrictive. Two student groups, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) and Scholarism, initiated a class boycott aimed at students in 24 higher education institutions and hundreds of secondary schools on 22 and 26 September respectively, to object the decision of the NPCSC and seek its accountability to citizens and students.[5][6]

In July 2014, Alex Chow Yong-kang, Secretary-General of the HKFS, stated that if the NPCSC rejected civil nomination or maintained the current Nominating Committee structure, the HKFS would call for a class boycott in September 2014 in order to demonstrate the extent of civil discontent over the HKSAR government.[7] When the decision of the NPCSC was announced, Alex Chow reiterated that the purpose of the class boycott is to call for all members of society in Hong Kong to reflect on how much they are willing to give for a better place to live in.[6] A "Class Boycott Committee" was formed by faculty staff from 14 universities and 328 higher-education, while several alumni organisations issued a joint declaration in support of the class boycott. 108 academics agreed to hold "Seminar on Democracy" with the protesters between Tuesday and Friday.[8] Some other student organisations went onto the streets to support the class boycott.[9]

Scholarism organised a demonstration outside the Central Government Offices on 13 September 2014. Protesters wearing yellow ribbon and blind-folded with red cloth declared class boycott by secondary schools on 26 September to echo the wider class boycott movement.[10] The fact that it tried to influence secondary school students to go on strike caused some resistance from society. In response to the criticisms, Scholarism held a number of meetings with secondary school parents to explain the motivation behind the event and urged students to seek agreement from parents before attending the boycott.[11] It also appealed to students to attend forums discussing the electoral reform, organise concern groups on electoral reforms, distribute yellow ribbons and pamphlets outside schools, and set up booths on the streets. While Scholarism stated that several secondary schools were in support of the strike, it asked schools to respect the students' freedom to participate in political activities.[1]

Chronology

22 September

The scene of class boycott at the University Mall, CUHK
The class boycott moved to the Tamar Park in Admiralty between 23 and 25 September.

University teachers and tertiary students across Hong Kong wearing white shirts and yellow ribbons gathered at the University Mall (百萬大道),

Hong Kong people
was not determined by themselves, but by the 170 handpicked members of the NPCSC. He stated that students in higher education institution should shoulder the civil and social responsibilities of Hong Kong, and live up to the hope of society by solving the social crisis. He also stated that as long as the Chinese Government and tycoons monopolised Hong Kong politics, livelihood problems would remain unsolved. HKFS demanded the government to:

  1. Establish civil nomination as a valid nomination method for the 2017 Chief Executive election;
  2. Start to reform of the Legislative Council (LegCo), abolishing all functional constituency seats;
  3. Make an official apology to the Hong Kong people, and withdraw the injustice resolution on the electoral reform;
  4. Otherwise, principal officials responsible for the electoral reform including
    CY Leung, Carrie Lam, Rimsky Yuen and Raymond Tam should be held accountable and resign.[13]

Yvonne Leung, the President of the Hong Kong University Students' Union, expressed that the class boycott might escalate into an indefinite protest, depending on the response from the Government. Teachers and students gave speeches one after another. At 5:30 p.m., organisers of the campaign invited academics to give lessons on civil issues to the participants, in order to put into practice "Boycott Classes, Continue Learning", including Choy Chi-Keung, Andrew To, Tam Chun-yin, Daisy Chan, Chow Po-chung and Bruce Lui etc. The first day of the strike ended with a film shown at 7:00 p.m. According to announcement made by HKFS, 13,000 people had joined the rally.[14][15]

23–25 September

The Class Boycott campaign was moved to Tamar Park in Admiralty. 108 Scholars also responded to the call and started the Civic auditorium. On the second day of the boycott, HKFS held a rally at night and indicated about 2,000 people had attended. Alex Chow Yong-kang, the Secretary of HKFS, expressed that he was not disappointed with the number of participants since it was only the second day of the boycott.

On the fourth day of the boycott, HKFS had another rally and announced 5,000 people participated. More and more people joined the rally after the nightfall and almost filled the entire Tamar Park. After the end of rally at about 21:30, HKFS launched a march to the Government House without any applications of the notice of no objection from the police force. Along the march, there were slogans protesting NPC's restriction on the nomination and the Chief Executive, CY Leung, not answering the students before deadline. Before the march, HKFS reminded the march had not been approved and protesters might have the risk of being arrested. Citizens were able to forward their Chinese and English name and contact numbers to the organiser for assistance if being arrested.

26 September

The Class Boycott campaign was held on

Joshua Wong, leading activist of Scholarism, pronounced the boycott statement. It was followed by a lecture held by Benjamin Au Yeung Wai Hoo, Senior Lecturer from department of Chinese, Chinese University of Hong Kong. The host mentioned there was 1,500 secondary school student joined the boycott movement. Total number of participants reached 3,000.[16]

After the dusk,

Anthony Wong Yiu Ming, students activists from Macau and Taiwan activist Lin Fei-fan, one of the leaders of Sunflower Student Movement
, in support of the event.

The assembly ended at 10 p.m. It was scheduled for a film sharing session by Anita Lee Chi Kwan, Assistant Professor of Languages and General Education Center,

pepper-sprayed them and displayed their batons. In chaos, it was reported a protester was having a heart attack. The police force originally refused to let the medics enter, and later permitted under the protesters pressure. At 10:52 p.m. police handcuffed and arrested Joshua Wong for forcible entry to government premises, disorderly conduct in public place and unlawful assembly. As visible wounds were found, he was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital
for medical inspections before sent to the Central Police station. Many people on site were sent to the hospital because of injuries or feeling unwell. The police and protesters fell into stalemate later on.

The organiser announced the start of civil disobedience, and reminded participants to uninstall communication software from their phones. They also encouraged the protesters to send their personal information to the HKFS secretariat in order to receive legal support.[17]

This raid was planned in secret. Neither the media nor the students were notified. According to Ming Pao's report, which summarised information provided by HKFS, Scholarism and protesters, this raid was proposed by HKFS and Scholarism a few days before its implementation on 26 September. Hundreds of participants were notified secretly two hours before the operation, gathered at the car park outside the Legislative Council Complex and the Central Government Offices around 10:15 p.m., and then raided the Civic Square once instructed.[18]

Aftermaths

Main article: 2014 Hong Kong protests

After the raid on the Civic Square, HKFS announced they would continue the assembly and called up more people to join them. HKFS indicated that 50,000 participants were at the assembly at night (excluding those counter-enclosing the venue from the outside). Later, police arrested the host of the assembly and cleared the stage.

Overnight, riot police were deployed as protesters blocked the roads to stop police reinforcements from reaching the Central Government Offices. Police used peppar spray, against which the protesters defended themselves with umbrellas.[19] Umbrella would later become a symbol of the occupation protest. Police surrounded the Civic Square not to allow any protesters to enter or exit it.

By 1pm, Police cleared the Civic Square and arrested protesters occupying there, including

Alex Chow and Lester Shum, Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General of HKFS. Altogether, 61 protesters were arrested for forcible entry into government premises and unlawful assembly.[20]

At night, HKFS and Scholarism organised another assembly. Having declared the assembly unlawful, police blockaded Exit A of Admiralty MTR station and bridges outside the Central Office Complex until the size of the crowd caused the police to lift the blockade.

At 1:30 am, 28 September, Benny Tai, co-initiator of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement, declared the official launch of the "Occupy Central" campaign. In the afternoon, as more and more people flooded to Admiralty in support of the students, the police completely blockaded the access to the government headquarters. Later, the protesters began to occupy Harcourt Road which police responded by using tear gas, triggering widespread occupations at Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.

The federation later disclosed that it had spent HK$332,000 ($42,500) to finance the boycott activities.[21]

Government feedback

On 5 September, government officials commented on the class boycott campaign. The Chief Executive of HKSAR,

Eddie Ng called a meeting with presidents and vice-chancellors of the eight local universities, in which they discussed the "Occupy Central" demonstration and class boycott campaign. Ms. Lam denied giving pressure on university presidents and claimed that the Government would not interfere with students' activities as long as they were legal and rational. As for secondary school students, the Government held the same stance as some education institutions that under-aged students should not participate in the class boycott campaign.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b 學民思潮發起中學生罷課. Sing Pao (in Chinese). 8 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Hong Kong students to boycott class to protest China curbs on democracy". 路透社. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Hong Kong students kick off class boycott". Digital Journal. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  4. ^ 全國人大常委會為普選「開閘」. Wen Wei Po (in Chinese). 31 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  5. ^ "香港「黑布圍城」抗議假普選 22院校922會師罷課". 關鍵評論. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b "太陽花再現？不滿「假普選」 香港大生8千人明起罷課一週". 三立新聞. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  7. ^ "港"学联":政改决定若无"公民提名"将罢课". Global Times. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  8. ^ 大專今罷課 400教師聯署撐 中大百萬大道集會 多院校旅巴接送. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 21 September 2014. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  9. ^ 將軍澳中學生貼紙遮校徽遊行. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 19 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  10. ^ "學民思潮發動926中學生罷課一天". RTHK. 13 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  11. ^ 學民思潮下周辦家長座談會. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 19 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  12. ^ "港大專生今起罷課五天抗議北京政改決定". BBC中文網. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  13. ^ "香港大學生罷課宣言：人大不代表我". 多維新聞. 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  14. ^ "公民抗命爭普選 香港歷來最大罷課行動登場". 風傳媒. 21 September 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  15. ^ 24大專院校師生9.22抗命 萬人罷課. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 21 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  16. ^ 1,500中學生罷課高呼：還我未來. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 27 September 2014. Archived from the original on 30 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  17. ^ 罷課變衝擊 黃之鋒被捕. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 27 September 2014. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  18. ^ 重奪廣場密議數天 百人打頭陣. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 28 September 2014. Archived from the original on 30 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Occupy Central won't start early, says Benny Tai, after student clashes with police leave dozens injured". South China Morning Post. 26 September 2014.
  20. ^ "Police arrest 61 people for unlawful assembly". Hong Government Press Release. 27 September 2014.
  21. ^ Lau, Stuart (13 March 2015). "Student federation reveals its finances" South China Morning Post, pg C4
  22. ^ "梁振英期望提出罷課學生冷靜了解政改方案". 亞州新聞. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  23. ^ "梁振英今早出席活動無回應罷課". 新城電台. 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  24. ^ 敏感時刻晤八大校長 林鄭否認施壓. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 16 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
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