Split in radical factions over ‘infiltration’ and ‘incomprehensible’ calls in Sheung Shui
JEFFIE LAM AND NG KANG-CHUNG
UPDATED : Sunday, 01 May, 2016, 11:01pm
A member of Civic passion walks around shopping mall after cancelled a protest against parallel traders in Sheung Shui. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
An anti-parallel trade protest in Sheung Shui was abruptly aborted at the last minute on Sunday, in what was seen as a rift within the pro-independence nativist movement ahead of the coming Legislative Council elections.
The lead organisers, nativist group North District Parallel Imports Concern Group, pointed the finger at Horace Chin Wan-kan, regarded as the ideological leader of the pro-independence force.
Its convenor, Ronald Leung Kam-shing, claimed Chin orchestrated violence behind the scenes during the protest, to hold the concern group responsible.
Political analyst Dr Chung Kim-wah, of Polytechnic University, said different localist groups were competing for popularity before September’s polls.
“It would be naive to think they are a united front fighting for a common goal of Hong Kong independence,” he said.
Some worried the protest could turn ugly as some groups, including Civic Passion, posted on their Facebook page “guidelines on what to do after getting arrested by police”.
Police reportedly sent more than 300 officers. Four militant pro-independence groups also joined.
Before the start, a protester who waved a British Hong Kong colonial flag got into a scuffle with a passer-by. The pair had to be separated by police officers. Two men were arrested for fighting, with one of them sent to hospital.
But when the protest was about to start, only 30 protesters had showed up. Leung announced the cancellation. “We know that some bad elements have infiltrated the crowd to take advantage of our protest to stir up trouble as serious as the [Mong Kok riot],” said Leung, “We are anti-parallel trade only. We don’t want to be pulled into troubles that are caused by some other groups.”
Civic Passion leader Wong Yeung-tat said the decision was “strange and incomprehensible”.
Chin, who had asked supporters to boycott the protest because it was “a trap”, dismissed Leung’s accusations as “a lack of logic”.
Leung, who will run in the elections, accused Chin of trying to make political gains by meddling in the protest.
In case the protest turned ugly, some of the shops nearby, especially those selling products popular with Chinese visitors like cosmetics, baby formula, and medicine, closed on Sunday.
After Leung left, Civic Passion member Lee Ching-hei, who also ran in last year’s district council elections, led 10 activists on a march around Sheung Shui old town in an anti-China protest. They chanted slogans, telling mainlanders to “get out of” Hong Kong. They also marched into shops and criticised shopkeepers for selling products to parallel traders, who sell them at a large profit back on the mainland.
Police said 260 people took part in the demonstration at its peak.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1940389/hong-kong-anti-parallel-trader-protest-pulled-last-minute
