Occupy Central cooks up 'banquet' action plan of civil disobedience
Invitations go out to movement's supporters with secret details on first civil disobedience protest in hope of changing election framework
Occupy Central has made a date with its supporters to attend a "banquet"- the codename for the democracy campaign's long-awaited debut civil disobedience operation.
The actual date and other details of the action are being kept secret, although participants have been informed, Occupy founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting said yesterday.
And a "Plan B" had been established in case police pre-empt their operation by blocking the roads in Central they intended to occupy. "There are many places we can set up the 'banquet' … as long as we are all together," Tai said on radio.
The Occupy Central movement is carrying out its threat to stage a 10,000-strong sit-in in the city's business hub after Beijing rolled out a restrictive reform framework last month for the 2017 chief executive poll that would effectively keep pan-democrats off the ballot paper.
The organisers still held hopes of Beijing changing its mind about the electoral blueprint if their occupation of Central was well attended, Tai said.
Supporters have received unofficial invitations to the event, which Tai would only say was likely to take place on a public holiday.
"We will deliver a clearer message via our website or Facebook to prepare [the participants] as that date approaches, such as reminding them about what they should bring [and] wear for the 'banquet'," he said.
Tai dismissed doubts over the "banquet's" impact if it was held on a holiday, saying it was more important at this point to encourage as many Hongkongers as possible to join in.
Ahead of the operation, a protest is slated for Sunday in which participants will parade a 500-metre-long black banner from Causeway Bay to Central to express Hongkongers' anger at Beijing's perceived insincerity in offering the city universal suffrage.
This will be the first of many protests, on an almost weekly basis, to make Hongkongers "wake up", Tai said.
"We hope more Hongkongers will understand that even after the National People's Congress' decision, we still need to occupy and continue to fight for [true democracy]", he said.
Also yesterday, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying wrote to Taiwan's , saying Hong Kong's pan-democrats should "cherish the chance to achieve universal suffrage in 2017 because the cost of giving it up is too big".
Earlier, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou threw his support behind Hong Kong's push for democracy.
Hongkongers' views of Beijing's framework were severely divided, according to a poll held by pro-Beijing think-tank New Forum from September 1 to 9.
Out of 1,314 respondents, 35 per cent supported the framework, which requires would-be candidates to secure backing from more than half of a nominating committee. About 38 per cent objected to the framework and 23 per cent found it barely acceptable.
