Over 1,500 secondary pupils cut classes for democracy
Teenagers take lessons out of the classroom in solidarity with their university seniors to press Beijing for genuine universal suffrage
Casting thick textbooks aside, hundreds of secondary pupils scribble away furiously on notebooks at their first "civil lecture", conducted out in the open over loudspeakers when they should have been confined within the four walls of the classroom.
The unusual scene played out under the roasting sun yesterday on the pavements on both sides of Tim Mei Avenue in Admiralty, next to the Legislative Council, under police monitoring.
Watch: Secondary school pupils share their views on the class boycott
It was a large-scale boycott of secondary school classes that saw teenagers, mostly under 18, show up for the day in solidarity with their seniors from universities to press for true democracy.
Mimi Kwok, a Form Four pupil from YLPMSAA Tang Siu Tong Secondary School in Yuen Long, was grateful for her parents' support; many of her classmates were banned from the rally although they backed the cause.
"Adults remain silent as they may face more restrictions than we do, so pupils, who do not have such constraints, should speak up more," Mimi said.