Advertisement
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam condemns university posters on death of official’s son, city’s independence
Chief executive claims materials advocating city break from Beijing violate country’s sovereignty
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Hong Kong’s leader denounced posters at Education University congratulating a senior education official on the death of her son as “extremely callous and insulting”.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor claimed on Friday the entire city had been “shocked, grieved and enraged” by their appearance.
Lam also insisted academic freedom and university autonomy were no excuse for propagating fallacies as she condemned posters at Chinese University that surfaced this week advocating Hong Kong’s independence from Beijing. She asserted their message ran counter to the “one country, two systems” principle and the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
Showdown at Chinese University campus over posters and politics
“I condemn the continued appearance of such remarks on university campuses, which is in violation of our country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests,” she said.
Advertisement
Lam’s remarks on the campus controversies came on the heels of statements by Education University council chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang and school president Stephen Cheung Yan-leung about the death of Poon Hong-yan, son of Undersecretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin.
Advertisement
Cheung revealed earlier Friday that security footage showed two young people had pasted the message directed at Choi on the school’s “democracy wall” at about 5pm Thursday when the campus was at its most crowded.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x