The Counterfeit Protest: Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing rally against Occupy Central

By Coconuts Hong Kong

Aug 26, 2014 | 8:31pm Hong Kong time

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Hong Kong loves protests. Whether it’s for democracy, for a new public TV channel, against mandatory “patriotism” education in schools, or even, against another protest. Yup, on Aug. 17, that’s exactly what tens of thousands of people did in Hong Kong.

They marched in protest against Occupy Central, a sit-in proposed by pro-democracy activists that is only supposed to take place if Beijing does not accept their demands for universal suffrage by 2017. Central is the name of Hong Kong’s central business district, the heart of what makes the city a global financial hub.

Anti-Occupy Central marchers are against the protest for a variety of reasons, with some saying it’ll only damage Hong Kong’s chances for democracy, while others fear that it’ll hurt the economy. But both international and local media found that many “protesters” were paid, bribed, or enticed through various means by likely pro-Beijing third parties hoping to inflate protest numbers, and distort public perceptions of how much anti-Occupy Central sentiment there actually is. Things got even more shady when official police estimates for the number of marchers seemed way higher than it should have been.

Coconuts TV went to see what the protest was really about.