Lancome stores reopen across Hong Kong, but Denise Ho warns of a spreading ‘white terror’
Despite end of on-site protests, Canto-pop star posts defiant Facebook message and petitions calling for her concert to go on are gaining support
Cosmetic brand Lancome reopened its stores across Hong Kong on Thursday, a day after protests were held over the company’s cancellation of a concert by Canto-pop star Denise Ho Wan-sze.
But pressure mounted on Lancome’s parent company L’Oreal as support for an online petition calling for a reconsideration of the cancellation multiplied on Thursday.
French citizen and former philosophy teacher Beatrice Desgranges started a French-language petition on change.com on Monday. She called for L’Oreal Hong Kong’s president and managing director Stephen Mosely to reconsider the cancellation.
It only had 4,200 supporters on Wednesday, but after its English and Chinese versions emerged, the number of supporters multiplied to more than 50,000 as of 3pm Friday.
Desgranges wrote: “We cannot accept that Lancome, in their way the ambassador of France – country of human rights – in Hong Kong, sacrifices the freedom of thought and expression to their commercial policy”.