Determined hecklers shout down Hong Kong forum on universal suffrage
Government supporters barge into democracy event, causing chaos until it has to be called off
A universal suffrage forum organised by a pro-democracy group had to be abandoned yesterday after dozens of government supporters turned up and hurled abuse at participants.
The forum, at City University, descended into chaos shortly after the first speaker, lawmaker Charles Mok, began his address.
About 30 government supporters shouted and swore at Mok, with one of them calling him a "British dog".
Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, convenor of the Alliance for True Democracy, which organised the forum, called a temporary halt to the event. But when it resumed a short time later, so did the abuse - with Democratic Party vice-chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong subjected to a middle-finger gesture, and asked why he didn't "bring a gun and try to take his arguing to Beijing" instead of making a lot of noise in Hong Kong.
Cheng eventually called the whole thing off, before three lawmakers even had the chance to give their scheduled speeches.
Cheng said the chaos was not unexpected. He said the effort to disrupt the forum came from "the state machine", which aimed to aggressively shut down any interest in pursuing democracy in Hong Kong.