Here’s Why 90% of Hong Kong Students Aren’t Ending the Umbrella Movement Soon

Because the kids are here to stay in Hong Kong, they’re not in a hurry to pack up their tents.
Here’s Why 90% of Hong Kong Students Aren’t Ending the Umbrella Movement Soon
A pro-democracy protester sleeps on a street in the Mongkok district of Hong Kong on October 28, 2014. A month into the mass pro-democracy protests gripping Hong Kong, the movement is under pressure to keep up momentum -- but those on the streets say their vigil has already changed the city for good. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images
Larry Ong
Journalist
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Because the kids are here to stay in Hong Kong, they’re not in a hurry to pack up their tents.

Reuters recently conducted an informal survey of the Occupy Central protesters on the one-month mark of the demonstrations, and found that about nine out of ten of the mainly student protesters are prepared to camp out in the streets for more than a year.

The student and citizen protesters are demanding that Hong Kong’s Chief Executive be selected by universal suffrage during the next elections in 2017, and are also calling for Leung Chun-ying, the hugely unpopular current Chief Executive, to resign.

To see their demands met, 87 percent of the students polled said that they are willing to hold out at the protest sites in Admiralty and Mong Kok for more than a year, while 93 percent of them said that they would simply pack up and move to a new location if Hong Kong police do unceremoniously thump them out.

Indeed, with an unusual display of brutality, Hong Kong police battered and bloodied unarmed protesters with their batons and riot gear, and very nearly succeeded in clearly the protesters from Causeway Bay and Mong Kok in the third week of the demonstrations.

Protesters scuffle with riot policc in the occupied area in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Protesters scuffle with riot policc in the occupied area in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Larry Ong
Larry Ong
Journalist
Larry Ong is a New York-based journalist with Epoch Times. He writes about China and Hong Kong. He is also a graduate of the National University of Singapore, where he read history.