United they stand: Anti-Occupy campaign rallies establishment camp

Even before the march against the Occupy Central movement kicked off yesterday, the anti-Occupy campaign had achieved something Beijing has been unable to do so in recent years - rallying the divided pro-establishment camp and expanding its support base.

The Alliance for Peace and Democracy, which organised the march, said about 126,000 people and 1,200 groups had signed up for the march.

It also claimed to have collected more than 1.46 million signatures for the petition against the civil disobedience movement by Saturday, outnumbering the 793,000 who voted in Occupy Central's unofficial referendum on electoral reform in June. More than 1,500 organisations, including some business chambers, have signed the petition.

Some pro-establishment groups, which are at odds with the Leung Chun-ying administration, also come under the same banner to oppose the Occupy Central movement.

The Liberal Party, which backed former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen's bid to challenge Leung in the 2012 chief executive election, is among the groups that actively mobilised supporters to take part in the anti-Occupy petition.

Leung's election in 2012 split the Beijing-loyalist camp and the chief executive has been struggling to win support from Beijing-friendly groups despite the central government's calls for unity. Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun even suggested that Leung should perhaps consider resigning after the massive turnout for the July 1 march.

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