Opposition to national education grows with protest
And hundreds of pupils return to ‘Occupy Tamar’ site after class rather than go home
(SCMP video by Hedy Bok)
A young university student spiritedly strumming his guitar after four days without food; an elderly unionist-teacher suffering from similar hunger pangs; a secondary pupil who travelled from Sha Tin after sitting a test in the morning; a woman who shaved her head in an anti-brainwashing act; a retired civil servant.
These were among the faces massed outside government headquarters yesterday to oppose national education, along with some better-known ones such as Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 15, who has become a media star since helping found the Scholarism student movement.
Guitar-playing City University student Gil Wong and Professional Teachers' Union deputy director James Hon Lin-shan, 63, were among four hunger strikers who passed the 96-hour mark at midnight.
Three others, among a dozen who had fasted for different times, passed the 48-hour mark at the same time. They were surrounded by about 200 campers in the "Occupy Tamar" movement who were there to support them.
One, Heidi Ma, a 17-year-old student stayed five of the past six nights in the camp.