🌊 Free Tide: Democratic Party snubs upcoming LegCo Elections
🌊 Free Tide: Democratic Party snubs upcoming LegCo Elections
Democratic Party boycotts elections, new national flag school guidelines introduced, HKU statue artists seeks lawyer and more...
Good morning,
Hey everyone! Pretty slow news day today. A little update about me though - David Card, an Econ professor at my university, just won the Nobel Prize! Hopefully I can take his class next semester.
~ Sze Yu
Democratic Party will not contest upcoming elections
Hong Kong’s largest opposition party has chosen not to contest upcoming LegCo elections. None of the party members met the party’s own application deadline on Monday, meaning that December’s polls have effectively been boycotted by the pro-democracy camp.
The Democratic Party has been internally debating its participation for the last few months. One member, veteran Tiananmen Square activist Han Dongfang, previously said he wished to run but did not manage to secure enough nominations within the party.
To read more commentary about what the pro-Beijing camp thinks of this move, become a Paid Tide reader!
COVID news
Coronavirus in Hong Kong
New cases: 7 (imported)
New guidelines require schools to hold national flag ceremonies at least once a week
New regulations from the Education Bureau mandate all schools to stage national flag raising ceremonies at least once a week from next year and ensure it is displayed every day during term time. The national anthem must be played and sung at the ceremonies, which should be attended by the entire school community.
The move is part of a wider government push to enhance patriotism and national security-related education in the Hong Kong school curriculum. A bureau spokesman said the move aimed to “promote national education and help students develop a sense of belonging to the country, an affection for the Chinese people and enhance their sense of national identity”.
Events & Exhibitions
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The Underground: Legends
You don’t spend decades running a platform for live music without at least a few bands becoming big names. Featuring five of the biggest alternative local bands to have been incubated by the Underground, ‘Underground Legends’ on 23 Oct is going to be absolutely insane.
HKU Tiananmen Square Massacre statue artists seeks lawyer
Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, the artist who created the Tiananmen Massacre statue, is seeking a lawyer after HKU ordered the statue’s removal last week. The artwork commemorates the victims of the Tiananmen Square military crackdown in 1989.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said they received a letter from US law firm Mayer Brown last Thursday, asking the group to remove the Pillar of Shame. The statue has stood on HKU’s campus for the last 24 years.
Other updates
Court of Appeal upholds ruling that possession of zip ties could be an “instrument fit for unlawful purposes”. Property agent Chan Chun-kit was sentenced to 5 and a half months in jail for possession of 48 zip ties near the scene for protest clashes. The ruling is expected to affect more than 100 upcoming protest-related cases.
Dozens of Hong Kong triad members have been arrested in a series of operations targeting gangs using high-powered speedboats to smuggle contraband to the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong police have cracked down on smuggling since a marine officer was killed in a high-speed boat chase last month.
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