All Around Town for June 4, 2015
Chinese University students might be more familiar with the Goddess of Democracy statue on their campus which remembers the Beijing crackdown in 1989, but for local journalists, it was the Goddess of Democracy statue which was destroyed during the crackdown that lives in their heart. That was according to a "de facto referendum" organised by Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan yesterday, as she asked journalists in the Legislative Council to choose between two badges her party designed - one featuring the Chinese University statue and the other the Beijing students' version, but with a yellow umbrella in her hands - a symbol of last year's Occupy movement. "Everyone loves old-fashioned [stuff]," Ho joked, as she said the latter was overwhelmingly more popular. Ho said because of the journalists' response, she might need to ask the party's supplier to make more badges with the more popular design, which they will sell at the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park tonight. Tony Cheung
The English-speaking world now knows the content of the humiliating remarks encountered on an MTR train earlier this week by People Power lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, the first gay lawmaker to come out on his sexual orientation, after a video showing two women who took turns to berate him was added with English subtitles. In it, a woman wearing sunglasses scolded him: "You d**k-less man. You deserve not having a d**k. Only three inches. Shameless." It then became even more explicit. It is an offence to swear on MTR trains, but discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation remains unregulated. The Equal Opportunities Commission called the tirade intolerable. Let's see how the world now reacts. Stuart Lau
Civic Party members are setting themselves a grim challenge after the political reform vote - brave the scorching weather this summer and hike in Lion Rock country park. The walk to be held in August was to raise funds for the party's operation, chief project officer Thomas Yu Kwun-wai told . "We have been too busy with political reform this year to organise any fund-raising," he said. It would not be a publicity stunt with the party's lawyer-lawmakers and others walking just a few steps to the finish line, he stressed, but a real down-to-earth, two-hour walk from Tsz Wan Shan to Sha Tin. Are they worried about getting heat stroke? Just in case, Yu said, they would notify the St John Ambulance brigade and Civil Aid Service beforehand. The party did not organise any event to raise money for its ninth anniversary in March. Joyce Ng
