Hong Kong protests: school students and residents join flash mob at shopping centre to sing popular anthem
- Event, organised by pupils from five secondary schools in Wong Tai Sin area, was also attended by locals
- As they sang, a large yellow banner with ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ written on it was unfurled from third floor of the mall
More than 100 pupils in school uniform and local residents took part in a flash mob singing protest at a shopping centre in the Hong Kong residential district of Wong Tai Sin on Monday evening.
“We’re here to fight for the five demands [of protesters],” said Angel Lai Hiu-tung, one of the organisers and a Form Six student at Wing Kwong College.
“Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor may have proposed a dialogue but we do not think she’s serious about talking to the public.”
She was referring to the embattled leader’s first open dialogue on Thursday with 150 members of the public selected through an application process.
The crowd sang the latest protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong and Chandelier by Australian singer Sia with modified lyrics that mocked police.
As they sang, a large yellow banner with “Glory to Hong Kong” written on it was unfurled from the third floor of the mall.
In references to the five demands, including the setting up of an inquiry into police actions during protests and the government retracting its characterisation of violent clashes as “riots”, people waved placards with slogans such as “We are not rioters” and “We support police in enforcing the law. Just kidding!”
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They were accompanied by a man playing the harmonica and a black-clad protester on the saxophone. Residents with young children were among those who sang and chanted slogans.
The protest was similar to one held on Sunday night at the Times Square mall in Causeway Bay.
The city has been gripped by more than three months of civil unrest. Lam has agreed to one of the five demands, announcing on September 4 the bill’s withdrawal.
The bill would have allowed fugitives to be sent to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement, notably mainland China, where it was feared people would not get a fair trial.