Nearly a fifth of Hong Kong voters say they support violent actions by protesters, such as attacking opponents or hurling petrol bombs and bricks
- About 5 per cent strongly supported more extreme acts that include physical violence, hurling bricks and petrol bombs, and damaging public facilities
- Much larger group supportive of milder behaviour such as vandalising mainland Chinese businesses, and blocking MTR stations
Nearly a fifth of Hong Kong voters support protesters “attacking opponents”, hurling bricks and petrol bombs and damaging public facilities such as the MTR, a poll commissioned by the Post has found.
The findings of the survey, which asked voters for their views on the protesters’ range of tactics among other questions, suggested Hongkongers had a threshold of the level of violence they would tolerate.
There appeared to be a baseline of 5 per cent of voters who said they “strongly support” more violent actions such as attacking opponents, hurling bricks and petrol bombs and damaging public facilities. Another 13 per cent or so said they “somewhat support” such actions.
But across the board, there was a bigger group that was supportive of milder actions such as vandalising businesses with links to mainland China, blocking MTR stations and blocking roads.
Of 832 surveyed, 54 per cent said they voted for a pro-democracy candidate during the November 24 district council polls, while the rest said they supported a pro-government candidate or an independent.