Potential Legco candidates drum up support on sidelines of July 1 march
While some chose not to take part in the rally itself, some candidates still viewed the occasion as a chance to seek donations ahead of the elections in September
Street booths lined the route of the pro-democracy march on Friday, as potential candidates made a last-ditch bid for donations at the largest rally before the Legislative Council elections in September.
Aside from the traditional pan-democratic parties, new party Demosisto – led by student activists Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Joshua Wong Chi-fung – alongside a number of new concern groups that were set up in the wake of the Occupy movement, brought out colourful banners to draw people’s attention.
Ironically, some of the groups that refused to join the march because of their split with the event organiser, the Civil Human Rights Front, still jumped on the chance to use the annual platform to garner public support and, more importantly, raise funds for their operation and the upcoming elections.
That included Youngspiration, which claimed they had reservations about the march’s theme “Showdown against 689”, in mocking reference to the number of votes Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying received in election.
“I think what Hongkongers should do is far more than declaring war at [the] 689,” said Youngspiration member Yau Wai-ching. Reconstructing Hongkongers’ identity and advocate self-determination for the city should be the priority, she said.