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Around 200 alumni and 100 pupils from the elite King’s College in Mid-Levels protesting what they saw as the school’s suppression of student’s rights. Photo: Handout

Students at Hong Kong secondary schools form human chains as part of class boycott, with pupils at one accusing management of restricting freedom of expression

  • Students at elite King’s College were joined by alumni in protest against school ban on using hall for boycott. Human chains also formed in four Tuen Mun schools
  • At Lingnan University, students delivered list of demands to president, which included removing lawmaker Junius Ho from university council

Around 200 alumni and 100 pupils from the elite King’s College in Mid-Levels formed a human chain on Thursday to protest against what they saw as the school’s suppression of students’ rights.

Alumnus Sam Yip Kam-lung organised the event in collaboration with students after hearing King’s College did not grant pupils permission to use the school hall for a class boycott, and covered up the Lennon Wall that students had erected to express their views.

The class boycott was part of a citywide movement to protest against the now-withdrawn extradition bill, with students and alumni from at least two other two secondary schools also accusing school managers of limiting students’ rights earlier this week.

“We alumni think the school has violated students’ right of expression and we want to support students in exercising their freedom of expression, no matter what their political views,” Yip said.

The human chain ran almost the entire perimeter of the school grounds, from High Street to Bonham Road. Some protesters held up signs that read: “reject white terror, return freedom of expression to King’s College”.

The rally was held on Thursday morning despite Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor saying the previous day she would formally withdraw the controversial extradition bill, which triggered months of protests in the city.

Yip did not think Lam’s announcement could solve the various issues in society, such as the political system and police brutality.

“Similar to how we wish for the school to follow the spirit of its motto ‘meticulous thoughts, diligent actions’, we also hope the government can take an open attitude to accept the five demands raised by the public, and bring justice to society,” he said.

Alumni and pupils from the elite King’s College in Mid-Levels forming a human chain at the school on Thursday morning. Photo: Handout

The school’s Lennon Wall was put up on Monday, the first day of the strike in which tens of thousands of secondary and university students joined rallies and some boycotted classes when the new academic year started.

King’s College principal Kang Tai-chak, said that while he did not want politics to enter the school, he was not opposed to students discussing it on campus.

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“We want to maintain a safe educational environment for students,” he said. “The school has already told students in summer meetings that it does not encourage or participate in class boycotts.”

Regarding the Lennon Wall, he said they had held two meetings with students on the handling.

Pupils and alumni protesting at King’s College on Thursday morning. Photo: Handout

“The school can remove the messages posted on the Lennon Wall but did not do so because they contain students’ opinions.”

Hundreds of pupils and alumni from four secondary schools in Tuen Mun also formed a human chain to support students arrested over the extradition bill protests in Hong Kong.

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Over 300 people gathered at Tuen Mun Shek Pai MTR light rail station to form the chain, which stretched from Po Leung Kuk Centenary Li Shiu Chung Memorial College to Christian Alliance College, through to Tsung Tsin College and Yan Oi Tong Chan Wong Suk Fong Memorial Secondary School.

The 30-minute rally began at 7.30am, and was partly in support of a Form Four Li Shiu Chung Memorial College student who was among 32 people arrested on a bus in Kowloon Bay Tuesday evening.

A protester at the human chain outside King’s College on Thursday. Photo: Handout

Meanwhile, at Lingnan University striking students presented a letter to president Leonard Cheng Kwok Han.

Attended by over 200 students, some dressed in full gear, the rally on Thursday afternoon was followed by a campus march that ended at the university’s administration building, where the president’s office is located.

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After some delay, during which impatient students rushed into the administration building, Cheng showed up at around 6.40pm and took questions from the students for around an hour and a half. Students asked whether the university would be able to ensure their safety from arrest by police or attacks by triads, such as the ones who were said to be involved in the Yuen Long attacks of July 21.

“As a university, we have to manage risks. But, as a standard practice, police cannot enter the campus without our request for help,” Cheng said.

Students and alumni from four secondary schools in Tuen Mun form a human chain on Thursday morning. Photo: Handout

Cheng promised an open response to students’ letter of demands on Monday, September 9, as well as a school-wide meeting to discuss this issue nine days later.

The strike action also reiterated students’ demands that pro-establishment lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu be removed from the university council, after he was seen shaking hands with the men suspected of involvement in the violent attack at Yuen Long MTR station.

The Education Bureau is currently carrying out an investigation into the matter.

“We do not accept police violence nor can we any longer tolerate Junius Ho and others like him leading Lingnan,” Poon Ka-kit, one of the organisers and a third-year Cultural Studies student, said.

When contacted by the Post, Ho said he had done nothing wrong and would not resign.

He asked if the student activists understood the rules of the university council. “It is funny to ask the university to sack me. The university council cannot sack me. I am appointed by the chief executive. I have done nothing wrong. If I am capable of doing a job and people are willing to let me serve them, then why should I resign?”

He also said the students’ accusations were unfair.

“I live in Yuen Long and I was on my way back home when I came across some local residents [on July 21]. I am an elected councillor and so I had a chat with the residents. So, what wrong have I done? Am I wrong just because I chatted with them? Guilty by association? Do our students have logical thinking?”

Additional reporting by Ng Kang-chung

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pupils, alumni form human chain over ‘suppression’
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