The underlining concern here is that a rapid escalation of the protests may provoke the authorities – and in particular the Chinese government – into using force against the demonstrators.
It’s time for a party – the 65th birthday party of the People’s Republic of China in fact. Still, there are a whole lot of people in Hong Kong who don’t exactly feel like celebrating.
China’s “National Day” coincides with day four of the occupation of Hong Kong’s city centre by a collection of pro-democracy groups – and the organisers confidently predict that the city’s concrete canyons will witness the biggest crowds so far.
According to some estimates 80,000 people have sat, cheered, clapped and organised in the downtown core but the vast majority so far have been students, who also happen to boycotting school.
Today, however, a much wider range of people, released from their work commitments by “National Day”, are expected to descend on the site. That includes the “OL’s” – Hong Kong’s office ladies, secretaries, clerks and other staff – and the newly retired “mahjong players”, all of whom are thought to be developing a new found interest in democratic politics.
Surprisingly perhaps, two of the main organising bodies raised concerns on social media today that the protests were growing too quickly.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students said this via Twitter: “We recommend protesters to secure already occupied areas now instead of expanding the movement.” Another student group, Scholarism, discouraged protesters from going to Hong Kong’s ceremonial “Bauhinia Square” for an early morning flag-raising ceremony.
The underlining concern here is that a rapid escalation of the protests may provoke the authorities – and in particular the Chinese government – into using force against the demonstrators.
Still, the territory’s present strategy seems to revolve around outlasting the protesters. The police were withdrawn on Monday and Hong Kong’s Chief Executive C Y Leung seemed to accept yesterday that “Occupy Central” wasn’t going to budge in the days ahead.
There are other organisations worried about the possibility of confrontation – and interestingly these groups are from China. A number of provincial tourism boards have issued warnings to travel agencies stating that Hong Kong had become “very dangerous”.
Follow @c4sparks on Twitter