A group organising study trips has been accused of foul play after a video of students pledging their support for the government’s political reform proposal emerged.
The students say the video was taken as part of an assessment for a study tour to the USA and that they were promised the content would not be posted publicly.
The Federation of Hong Kong Guangxi Community Organisation shot the footage in April.
Seven students aged 14 to 17 are featured in the video, wearing their school uniform and expressing their support for the government’s proposal for the chief executive elections in 2017.
The students claim the outwardly pro-government group told them beforehand that the videos were for internal use and would not be published.
Yet the footage appeared last Friday on the pro-Beijing Facebook page, Occupy Central does not represent me.
Holy Trinity College, a school which one of the seven students attends, issued a statement confirming that the organisation did not say the video would be published, and that the student in question has now been provided with “appropriate counselling”.
Federation chairman Tang Ching-ho defended the use of the footage through an official statement, saying the purpose of the exercise was to collect ideas on political reform.
The statement also claims that the video is not related to the study tour, and that the students were notified that it had been published.
Tang said the students are “perfectly justified” to support the proposal and urged netizens to stop “cyber-bulling” them.
