Hong Kong student federation may quit pro-democracy alliance ahead of Tiananmen vigil
Cabinet 'squarely divided' on whether to quit pro-democracy group that has reduced Tiananmen vigil to a 'ritual', says new leader
The student body behind the Occupy movement is split on whether it should join the annual vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen crackdown and quit the pro-democracy alliance that organises it.
Nathan Law Kwun-chung, the new secretary general of the Federation of Students, told the South China Morning Post yesterday that his cabinet would make it a priority to decide whether it should remain in the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, as the vigil was only two months away.
While Law did not have a strong view on quitting the alliance, he said the new cabinet, formed by student-union heads of seven universities, was "squarely divided" on the issue.
"We don't want to forget the June 4 crackdown, but there are views in the federation that the candlelight vigil has been reduced to a ritual in recent years, lacking a fighting spirit," Law said. "We want to remind people what the students in 1989 were fighting for, their dreams."
He added that some of his colleagues had reservations about one of the alliance's slogans, "Build a democratic China".
The alliance was formed in 1989 to support the student pro-democracy movement in Beijing, which ended in a military crackdown. It has since held a vigil in Victoria Park every year. Last year, it said 180,000 people took part -the biggest crowd ever - while police put the number at 99,500.