Hongkongers brave drizzle to take part in National Security Education Day events in Central

City residents, most of them middle-aged or elderly, visited a national security exhibit at Edinburgh Place, and a booth in Statue Square where a mosaic was being made of photos of participants

Progress on the mosaic, however, appeared to be slower than expected, with less than a third of the spaces filled as the end of the day neared

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People pose with a Chinese flag during a visit to a National Security Education Day event on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:45pm, 15 Apr 2021Updated: 11:22pm, 15 Apr 2021

Undeterred by a drizzle on Thursday afternoon, dozens of Hong Kong residents – most of them middle-aged or elderly – visited a booth at Statue Square in Central to commemorate National Security Education Day, the city’s first since the imposition of Beijing’s legislation on the subject last June.

Started in 2016, the day was previously marked only by officials’ speeches, but this year, with the government taking over as organiser for the first time, a series of events were staged across the city for politicians, pupils and the general public alike.

At Statue Square, in the shadow of the headquarters of banking giant HSBC, a large white-and-purple board printed with a tight grid was set up – with similar installations found in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sha Tin – as part of a participatory activity to mark the occasion.

Designed as a sort of jigsaw puzzle, each of the boards aimed to collect photos of around 2,000 residents and arrange them together to form a mosaic showing Victoria Harbour and the slogan “Uphold national security, safeguard our home”.

Finance secretary Paul Chan adds his photo to a mosaic of Hongkongers at an event marking National Security Education Day on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Around a dozen people, most of them grey-haired, arrived at about 3pm and queued in front of the board to show support, they said, for the city’s return to stability after the social and political conflict of recent years.

“I think this is really meaningful,” said Michelle Lau, a 58-year-old retiree, after getting her photo taken and added to the mosaic. “I read in the news that there was such an activity here in Central, and today was the only day, so I thought I had to come support it, even though it’s raining. Every country needs national security.”