Hong Kong families split over support for Occupy Central protest
It's not a student's job to meddle in politics: that's the message Kuby Chan received from her parents and one probably heard by many other young activists manning the Occupy barricades.
It's not a student's job to meddle in politics: that's the message Kuby Chan received from her parents and one probably heard by many other young activists manning the Occupy barricades.
"My parents said students shouldn't take part in what the Hong Kong Federation of Students has organised, but instead, focus on their studies," said the 16-year-old, who has been out on the streets since the first day of the university class boycott on September 22. "They thought [students] were making a scene or staging a show," she said. "They had no idea why students had to do that."
Chan, who has been camping out on the streets every night over the past few weeks, said that after she decided to take a stance for democracy, her parents barely spoke to her.
But a transformation came after the most dangerous moment she experienced since she joined the movement.
A crowd had gathered outside Sin Tat Plaza in Mong Kok near where an anti-Occupy man was seen assaulting a protester. Chan was among the crowd that had the man surrounded by the time riot police arrived.
In the chaos, the teenager was hit on the back of the head by a police baton. Her parents found out the next day from her younger brother. "They asked me to take sufficient equipment with me [to protect myself]," Chan said. "Compared to their tough stance previously, their attitude has changed." .
Chan said the last generation who fought the same fight had not achieved reforms so it was now her generation's turn. "Maybe we will succeed," said Chan, who dropped out of school a year ago. "I won't succumb so easily this time."
Ngan Tsz-ho has not met or spoken to his mother since their fight on October 1 over his joining Occupy Central. He's even blocked his mother on smartphone messaging app Whatsapp, all because his mother is a "blue ribbon" member, opposing the pro-democracy movement and supporting the police.
"She said, 'Can democracy make money? Have I been raising you with democracy? You've never done anything good and you're going to have no relative, no friend and no parent soon'," Ngan said. "I felt it was too much. I felt she had no sympathy or conscience."
Ngan, a 22-year-old make-up artist, joined Occupy on September 28 - the day the protest began - and has stayed on Harcourt Road in Admiralty ever since.
Whenever he needs to go to his home in Chai Wan to shower or change clothes, he waits until his mother has gone to work and leaves before she returns.
Ngan's parents are divorced. While his father is not a "blue ribbon" member, he also did not support his son joining Occupy.
Running a frozen meat business in Chai Wan, his parents were close to some local pro-establishment district councillors and benefitted from their district policies, Ngan said. "My mum supports the councillors and they talked her into being against Occupy Central," he said.
Ngan hasn't participated in any previous protest and never thought he would join Occupy.
"I never liked [Chief Executive] Leung Chun-ying because he's told many lies, but this time he betrayed us," he said. "At first I just wanted to come for a day, but then when people were leaving and students were asking them not to go, I decided to stay, because I couldn't stop worrying about them."
