Academics pledge to help students who boycott classes over suffrage row

The announcement by mainland officials of new rules ensuring that only hand-picked candidates will be allowed to run for Hong Kong's top leadership position in 2017 was, not surprisingly, condemned by democracy activists.

But this latest setback in the struggle for genuine universal suffrage has brought to the surface a growing undercurrent of support among academics for the Occupy Central movement.

It would be overstating the case to say there is massive backing for the campaign. But an increasing number of Hong Kong academics are getting behind the fight.

Dr Benson Wong Wai-kwok, assistant professor at Baptist University's department of government and international studies, says more than 250 academics have signed the joint statement pledging to fight for democracy.

Wong, the organiser of a signature campaign among academics to oppose the National People's Congress decision and fight for democracy, says: "Because of the increasing awareness of the seriousness of the issue, and students' promotion on campus in the past few days, more academic, teaching and administrative colleagues support the movement in different ways.