Hong Kong student federation to consider a retreat from Occupy zones within a week
The Federation of Students could decide within a week whether to retreat from occupied sites after refusing for more than nine weeks to call off its civil disobedience action.
The Federation of Students, the major force behind the Occupy Central protests, could decide within a week whether to retreat from occupied sites after refusing for more than nine weeks to call off its civil disobedience action.
A change of mind at the core of the federation seems to be afoot after its chief admitted an escalation in their protests on Sunday, when the government headquarters was besieged, had failed.
But the other Occupy student group, Scholarism, appears to be pressing on. Two new hunger strikers joined three others as one of them, group convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung, drank a teaspoon of glucose on doctors' orders. This happened after his blood sugar dropped worryingly.
Watch: Hong Kong Occupy protests student leaders consider retreat
A core member of the federation, Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok, said protesters had to consider how to conserve their energy so they could stay the course in pursuit of democracy.
"Some protesters [in Admiralty and Causeway Bay] have expressed their intention to remain until police clear the sites, but we also need to think clearly about why we are continuing the occupation," Leung told Commercial Radio yesterday. "It is clear that a concrete decision would be needed [and] this could be made within a week."
On Wednesday, the federation's secretary general, Alex Chow Yong-kang, floated the idea of shifting their focus beyond the sit-in zones to the community.
At the Admiralty site, Scholarism hunger strikers appealed to pro-establishment lawmakers to help resume dialogue with the government.
"The focus of the dialogue will be restarting the five steps of constitutional reform," Cheng Yik-lam said. "This is not against the Basic Law."
The Chief Executive's Office has said Scholarism's request will not be accepted.
Meanwhile, doctors gave Wong, 18, some glucose after his blood sugar dipped to 2.7 millimoles per litre during a 10.30am check-up.
Normal blood sugar levels hover around 5 to 6 mmol/l before meals. A glucose solution is recommended to those whose levels drop below 3 mmol/l.
The teenage activist, who started fasting at 10pm on Monday, apologised for not sticking to his self-imposed rules. "I'm supposed to only drink water."
Two more Scholarism members - Polytechnic University student Eddie Ng Man-hin, 20, and Chinese University student Gloria Cheng Yik-lam, 20 - joined the hunger strike.
At the Legislative Council, lawmakers debated police enforcement of court orders to clear Mong Kok occupiers.
The Civic Party's Dennis Kwok, lawmaker for the legal sector, said: "Police have made use of the injunctions as an excuse to clear areas outside the scope of the court orders."
Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the police had been restrained and had employed only minimal force.
Bus operator All China Express, which has received court approval to remove blockades in Admiralty, would discuss with bailiffs and the police on Tuesday how to execute the injunction, the company's lawyer Paul Tse Wai-chun said.
