Political dark arts live on in Hong Kong with bogus banners designed to shame lawmakers
Lawmaker Cheung Chiu-hung considers police complaint after becoming latest target of fake signs
Counterfeit touts and fakers of brand-name goods for which Hong Kong is infamous have just been joined by an unlikely “new kid on the block” – bogus banner hangers schooled in the political dark arts.
In a city where everything from umbrellas to the act of shopping itself has taken on a political hue, professionally made political banners – designed to look like the official campaign material of their intended target – are appearing in busy shopping and business districts across the city.
Yesterday, the hothouse political atmosphere in the run-up to key elections later this year showed no sign of cooling as Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung became the latest victim of the banners in the city, which branded him the “Father of Refugees”.
The bogus banners, which appeared designed to fuel anti asylum-seeker and refugee sentiment, and rubbish the pro-democracy politician’s sympathetic stance on the issue, could now become the subject of a police investigation.
Cheung said he had always fought for greater support for underprivileged and marginalised people, including refugees, and was considering making a formal police complaint because the banners had illegally used his name and his party’s endorsement.