Dozens of students wear masks during graduation ceremony, defying warning by Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s management
- Graduates have been told that they will not receive a handshake from department heads if they cover up their faces
- Some students also hold up their palms on stage to symbolise the five demands by anti-government protesters
More graduates from Hong Kong Polytechnic University turned up in masks to receive their degrees on Wednesday to protest against the management’s handshake snub for those who covered their faces, defying a warning that students who disrupted graduation ceremonies would be asked to leave.
According to students who attended the faculty-based ceremonies, which were closed to the press, dozens of bachelor and master graduates wore surgical, black or even gas masks in defiance of reminders that they would not receive a handshake from the department heads if they chose to do so on stage.
The session for the applied social science department in the afternoon saw at least 70 of the 200 attending graduates wearing masks.
Participants in the graduation ceremony should respect the rights of all graduates and attendees …
Photos and videos taken by the students also showed a few of them brandishing protest banners or a black Hong Kong flag on stage, while dozens sang the protest theme song Glory to Hong Kong when the national anthem March of the Volunteers was played during the ceremony.