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Supporters of the electoral reform plan clash with pro-democracy demonstrators protesting against the tour. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong officials on the road meet protesters in the streets during electoral reform bus tour

Dozens of yellow umbrellas greeted fast-moving bus tour to promote government's reform plan

It was all aboard the electoral reform express yesterday, as officials bounded onto an open-top bus to take their attempts to drum up support right into the heart of the local community in a "flash mob"-style campaign.

But opponents of the government's controversial reform plans were not to be defeated. Despite the fact the three stops - in Kennedy Town, Lok Fu and Tai Po - were announced with just two hours' notice, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and co faced dozens of protesters, some with yellow umbrellas. The cries of "2017: Make it Happen" were barely heard as the bus made the briefest of stops.

Besides around a hundred democracy advocates from parties and student groups, a few dozen government supporters gathered to shout slogans. Some even set up stages in the hope that officials would stop to address them.

To their disappointment, none of the officials got off the bus, and the vehicle didn't even slow down to give a glimpse of its passengers smiling and waving.

"This kind of promotion is a waste of time," said Joshua Wong Chi-fung, convenor of the student pro-democracy group Scholarism.

"We are very disappointed with the government officials, who were sitting high on top of the bus waving their hands. They did not come into direct contact with any critics nor explain their proposal to the public."

But one government official, who declined to be named, said those on the bus "had to make a judgment based on the actual situation" and had originally not ruled out disembarking to meet people in the streets.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Kennedy Town early in the afternoon, including radical lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung. They chanted slogans such as "fake universal suffrage must die" and "abolish the nominating committee" - a reference to the 1,200-strong body that, under the government's proposal, will pick candidates in 2017.

A group of Beijing loyalists led by Ip Kwok-him, a Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong lawmaker, tried to drown out the chanting with shouts of "one person, one vote in 2017".

Several protesters attempted to rush towards the bus while others booed as it sped down Forbes Street. Police raised a yellow warning flag and pushed protesters back onto the pavement. Similar chaos followed for the second stop in Lok Fu, and the bus drove past its final destination, the Tai Po Complex, twice, as dozens of government supporters gathered and cheered.

Lam, clad in white, shouted the "2017: Make it happen" slogan. She was sat next to Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and constitutional affairs chief Raymond Tam Chi-yuen at the front of the upper deck.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah was sitting next to them, while health minister Dr Ko Wing-man was seated in the back of the upper deck, dressed in a dark suit, waving energetically to the crowd.

A spokesman for the government said officials would continue to reach out to people from all walks of life through various channels to solicit their support for the proposals in the coming weeks.

But today it is the turn of the pan-democrats, who launch their own campaign in Wan Chai. The city's streets will be a busy political stage until lawmakers vote on the package in June.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Officials on the road see protests back in the streets
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