Key Occupy Central supporter ready to sacrifice to set an example
“Civil disobedience has two elements – paralysing the city’s operation and self-sacrifice,” says Shiu Ka-chun. “We have done the disruption but not many people are willing to do the latter part.”
The sound of a hand drum made by Shiu Ka-chun has become routine to the occupiers at Admiralty, signalling the beginning of another evening for the pro-democracy protesters dubbed the “Umbrella Movement”.
Shiu – who lectures on social work at Baptist University and hosts the nightly rally at Harcourt Road – is one of a core group of Occupy Central supporters determined to turn themselves in to Hong Kong police soon.
The three co-founders of Occupy Central, as well as volunteers, plan to surrender themselves to police on November 21. Student leaders have reservations, saying they would rather be arrested than surrender.
Tension at the protest camps in Admiralty and Mong Kok has mounted since the High Court granted injunctions ordering protesters away from certain areas. Critics say those who ignore the court’s rulings threaten the city’s cherished rule of law.
Professor Joseph Chan Cho-wai, a political scientist at the University of Hong Kong, has argued that the sit-in could best be described as a “resistance movement” rather than the “civil disobedience” protest the Occupy organisers planned.
That’s because the majority of protesters are reluctant to accept the legal consequences, said Chan, who helped to coach student leaders ahead of their talks with the government last month.