Joshua Wong, the teenage student leader in Hong Kong, has gone on hunger strike in an effort to galvanise the two-month old
pro-democracy movement in the Chinese territory.
The 18-year-old, who was
arrested last week, said he took the decision following Sunday’s failed student-led effort to boost the protests by surrounding government buildings.
“I cannot walk on the front lines of the street movement because of bail restrictions, so we will use our bodies to wake people up to our demands,” said Mr Wong.
He has been joined on hunger strike by two fellow members of Scholarism, one of the two student groups spearheading the protests.
Mr Wong’s move highlights a growing schism in Hong Kong’s two-month old pro-democracy movement. While he and other student leaders say the only way to maintain pressure on the
Hong Kong government and Beijing is to continue to block the streets, others worry they are damaging the long-term cause by sparking public anger at their tactics.
Leaders of
Occupy Central, the pro-democracy group that played a key role at the beginning of the protests before being eclipsed by the students, on Tuesday vowed to turn themselves in to the police. Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming urged the students to clear the protest sites amid falling public support for the so-called Umbrella revolution – named for the umbrellas that protesters used as shields against tear gas.
“We are not abandoning the occupiers, said Mr Tai, a university law professor. “We are urging them to understand the fight for democracy is a long battle and we need to preserve energy to fight on in the long term.”
The protests were sparked by China’s move in August to introduce a controversial electoral reform plan in the former British colony.
China agreed to introduce universal suffrage for the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive, the top political role in the territory, but it refused to allow the public to nominate candidates, and included conditions that effectively allow Beijing to prevent critics from getting their names on the ballot.
CY Leung, Hong Kong chief executive, on Tuesday reiterated that the protesters would not persuade China to change course. When asked about the hunger strikers, he said the weather was turning cold and that he hoped they “can take care of themselves”.
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