Leader of Occupy movement Chan Kin-man says he lost control less than a month after protest brought Hong Kong to a standstill
- Split between founders and student leaders came after negotiation with government failed
- Chan says he and Benny Tai were back in university positions a month after sit-ins started
A founding member of 2014’s Occupy protests told a Hong Kong court on Friday that he lost control of the movement less than a month after it began.
Dr Chan Kin-man’s surprise admission came as he revealed the real reason he and fellow organiser Benny Tai Yiu-ting had returned to their university positions, just weeks after the movement that brought the city to a standstill began on September 28 of that year.
Testifying for a second day at West Kowloon Court, where he faces a string of public nuisance charges, alongside Tai and the third founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Chan said he had tried to mediate between the government and the protests’ student leaders, who had taken control.
But student leaders had rejected his plan to end the protest when discussions broke down and, as a result, Chan said he, Tai and Chu had faded into the background by October 28.
The outgoing Chinese University professor also detailed more of his exchanges with government officials, and said Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who was chief secretary at the time, had been desperate to find a way to bring the protests to an end.