Last night, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Sha Tin New Town Plaza, the scene of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police last month, to call on citizens to join a citywide strike planned for Monday.
People started gathering at around 6pm yesterday, putting up memos and posters on a pillar near the Sha Tin MTR exit bearing messages like “Add Oil, Hongkongers” and “Let’s take a day off,” Ming Pao reports.
According to a Stand News livestream, groups of protesters stood in the mall wearing black shirts and helmets, holding up signs that read “Strike on 5 August,” and “Please come out.” Protesters also chanted slogans like “Restore Hong Kong, revolution of our era”.
The general strike was proposed as a way to keep up pressure on the government, which for weeks has declined to substantively respond to the demands of pro-democracy protesters. The months-long movement began in opposition to a controversial extradition bill — since suspended, but not withdrawn — and has evolved in recent weeks to include calls for broader democratic reforms.
Sunny Chiu, a Sha Tin district councillor, hung two huge banners from the upper level of the mall’s atrium that read “Withdraw the bill,” and “Heartbroken,” Apple Daily reports.
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The Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union has endorsed the plans for Monday’s strike, appealing yesterday for teachers to turn out in support.
“To fight against white terror and protect the next generation, teachers should have conscience and speak up,” they said in a statement.
The HKPTU is also planning an “education sector” protest on Aug. 17.
The pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement today that it had notified its 95 affiliated unions of the strike, and that most had passed the motions to strike in support, RTHK reports.
Their pro-Beijing counterparts the Federation of Trade Unions, however, have called on workers not to join.
“We urge employees to remain in their post and serve with dedication, especially those who work in the public transport and public services industries,” a representative said in a press conference on Wednesday, asking workers to “protect Hong Kong.”
Netizens, meanwhile, have also been suggesting tactics to support the strike. One LIHKG post has asked people to “paralyze the MTR system,” as protesters have in the past, so workers can “have an excuse for missing work.” The post called for non-cooperative actions at three MTR stations starting at 7:30 am on Monday.
A number of other assemblies and protests are planned for this weekend ahead of Monday’s strike, including an assembly at the Anchor Street Playground in Mong Kok tomorrow at 3pm.
Organizers had originally requested to march through Mong Kok, but police denied the request because Mong Kok had been the scene vandalism, violence, and arson at previous protests, RTHK reports.
Protesters had also requested to march from Kennedy Town to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park on Hong Kong Island on Sunday, but police rejected that request as well on the grounds that the narrow streets in the area would make it difficult for them to operate it trouble arose.
Protesters were permitted instead to rally at the the Forbes Street Temporary Playground in Kennedy Town at 4pm.
(However, police bans have proved no impediment to other recent protests.
Meanwhile, a march in Tseung Kwan O, also on Sunday, was approved by authorities, and will start at Po Tsui Park at 12pm.
