My Take | I was wrong about Occupy student leaders
- Given time and opportunity, they could become real leaders and play a significant role in public policymaking, unlike the masked mobs of today
I miss the student leaders of the “umbrella movement”. Compared with the boorish and even violent young protesters of today, they were indeed angels.
Politically, they might have been wet behind the ears. But they were passionate, well-educated, self-aware and smart, perhaps even brilliant.
I would not have argued if you said they could represent the future of Hong Kong. But the young, leaderless protesters of today hiding behind masks and helmets? I hope not!
Having watched with horror how so many protesters degenerated into violent mobs assaulting bystanders, you realise most of those who led the Occupy protests in 2014 were indeed young ladies and gentlemen of high calibre. They would not have allowed such things to happen nor turned a blind eye to them.
The latest: an elderly man was jeered and manhandled at the airport by a crowd that was there to make the anti-government case to international travellers! The viral clips were too distressing to watch.
I was wrong – terribly wrong – back in 2014 to have underestimated or even mocked in this column the likes of Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Alex Chow Yong-kang, Lester Shum Ngo-fai, Tommy Cheung Sau-yin and Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok.