Update | Striking students march through Central as police say protest is illegal
Students taking part in a pro-democracy class boycott did not seek police permission before setting out on a march from Tamar Park in Admiralty through Central and back to Admiralty.
Students taking part in a pro-democracy class boycott have completed a march from Tamar Park in Admiralty through Central and back to Admiralty.
The Federation of Students said about 500 striking students and other activists took part in the march.
The federation’s secretary general Alex Chow Yong-kang said the group had not applied for permission from police for the event, but indicated the action would be peaceful.
Watch: What do spectators think about striking students' march
The march marks one of Hong Kong's first acts of civil disobedience relating to Beijing's electoral reform proposal, since Occupy Central leader Benny Tai declared on August 31 that the 'era of disobedience' had begun.
Public meetings of more than 50 people and marches with more than 30 participants require a letter of no objection from the police by law. Police warned today that the march was unauthorised.
“[The march] is to show that apart from boycotting classes, the students will also connect with the society,” Chow said.
Marchers left Tamar Park next to government headquarters from Lung Wo Road, crossed Connaught Road via a footbridge, and then marched along Des Voeux Road Central until they reached Queen Victoria Street.
They then walked along Queen’s Road Central, Pedder Street, Chater Road and finally arrived back at Tamar Park after 5pm. Protesters tied yellow ribbons - the symbol of the democracy movement - to the gates outside the office of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
Students are boycotting classes to protest Beijing’s decision to rule out an open election of the chief executive in 2017.
They have called on Beijing to reverse that decision and allow an open nomination process for candidates in 2017. Organisers said some 13,000 people turned up at Chinese University to mark the first day of the week-long student strike on Monday.
On Tuesday, student leaders asked the chief executive to meet with them for talks on Hong Kong’s political reform.
However he declined to discuss the students’ demands, prompting them to set a 48-hour deadline, saying they would surround and paralyse key government buildings if he did not face them.
Chow said the federation will decide on Wednesday night whether to extend the class boycott or to step up a civil disobedience campaign that is expected to include a blockade of roads in Central.
“If Leung does not meet us [by Wednesday night], it’s unlikely that he will do so on Thursday, so we need to step up our action to press the government, and to tell the society that the class boycott isn’t just about attending lectures [at Tamar Park],” the student leader said.
Elsewhere on Friday, Scholarism, which represents secondary school students, plans to hold a separate rally on Tim Mei Avenue outside government headquarters.
The group has applied for permission from police for the rally, which is expected to attract some 100 secondary pupils who will boycott classes for the day.
A further 1,400 students are expected to join the rally by about 4.30pm, after schools finish for the day. Scholarism spokesman Oscar Lai Man-lok said the group may switch to a “Plan B” venue for the rally if police permission is not granted.
“But our action will still be legal and peaceful … Scholarism will not undertake acts of civil disobedience such as blocking road traffic,” Lai said.
The group’s convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung noted that political reform concern groups have been set up by students in more than a hundred schools across Hong Kong.
