Lennon Wall clean-up campaign brings scuffles and arguments but no violent clashes between pro-Beijing camp and Hong Kong anti-government protesters
- Lawmaker Junius Ho and supporters tore down Post-it notes from Lennon Walls – but protesters mostly waited a bit and put up new messages
- Both sides claim success, but one protester says: ‘It doesn’t matter if they take down the walls – we will put up a hundred more
The threat of violence between pro-Beijing groups on a citywide mission to clean up so-called Lennon Walls and anti-government protesters intent on defending them fizzled out on Saturday, with no major confrontations reported.
There were some scuffles and arguments as Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, an outspoken pro-government lawmaker, and his supporters took down Post-it notes from several Lennon Walls – but protesters mostly waited a bit and plastered the walls with new messages.
When the clean-up campaign concluded in Southern district, Ho declared it a success.
“Apart from in Shau Kei Wan, where we received a passionate welcome and loud send-off from roaches, order and the atmosphere were generally good,” Ho posted on Facebook, using “roaches” as a pejorative term for protesters.
He had earlier said 36,000 volunteers would work at 83 locations across the city, with supporters coming from the mainland. The turnout on Saturday was much lower.
Ho had also dialled down his “Clean Up HK” campaign late on Friday, instructing participants not to clean up the Lennon Walls and instead just pick up rubbish in the streets.