Should April 5 Action Group members and fellow activists really feel triumphant over their success in forcing their way into the public gallery of the Legislative Council chamber last Friday? Obviously, the activists, including familiar faces such as Leung Kwok-hung and Koo Sze-yim, think they should. But the local community may not agree.
Hong Kong is a free society where most people still respect freedom of expression and approve of individuals or groups who organise themselves to stage protests and to make petitions to voice their grievances over government policies.
The community can well understand why the activists feel strongly about the provisional legislature's decision to scrap the labour laws enacted before the handover.
But what is in question now is the way the protesters chose to express their views.
The activists may think that their protest was meant to uphold justice.
The community, they believe, must surely be on their side.
