Ragtag Diaoyu activists backed by Hong Kong's political heavyweights
Diaoyu protesters received funding from HK heavyweights, including CY Leung
The eight activists arrested by Japanese authorities for pitching the Chinese flag on the Diaoyu Islands may be a mixed bag - including a politician, a teacher and a construction worker - but they have the backing of Hong Kong's political heavyweights.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong-based Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands said it received financial support from leaders including Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Tsang Yok-sing of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the Civic Party's Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and former Legislative Council president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai.
Spokesman Chan Yue-nam said the leaders all donated paintings for auction to raise funds for the voyage. He said Lew Mon-hung, a delegate of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also made regular donations. The support buoyed the activists who made it to the rocky East China Sea outcrop known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
The most widely quoted of them is Tsang Kin-shing, widely known as "The Bull", a former legislator and district councillor.
Tsang is a member of the radical League of Social Democrats, and regularly joins anti-government protests such as the July 1 rally, and the June 4 candle-light vigil.
Two other activists, construction workers Koo Sze-yiu and Lo Chau, are long-standing allies of radical lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, a leading member of the league.