Hong Kong | Local support for protesters grows, survey says

Pro-democracy protesters watch a live televised talk between pro-democracy student leaders and the government outside the Central Government Offices in the Admiralty business district

Public support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters has grown, particularly among younger people, a survey shows, underlining the difficulty for the government to resolve four weeks of demonstrations.
A public opinion poll conducted Oct. 8 to Oct. 15 by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and released Thursday showed 37.8 percent of respondents support the Occupy movement, an increase from 31.3 percent in mid-September.
“This is not surprising because the government has so mishandled the protest with police using tear gas and a sense that the government doesn’t represent Hong Kong,” said Michael Davis, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong.
The results come after Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that public patience for the demonstrations, which have blocked buildings and roads and snarled traffic, is wearing thin. Student leaders have pledged to continue their street occupation after a first round of talks this week failed to address their demands for a freer election in 2017.
The proportion of people surveyed opposing the movement fell to 35.5 percent from 46.3 percent, according to the poll, which has a 3.5 percent margin of error.
Much of the movement’s support comes from the young, with 62.1 percent of respondents 15 to 24 years of age backing the protests, compared with 28.4 percent of people in the 40 to 59 age bracket, according to the poll. In the September survey, 46.7 percent of those aged 15-24 supported the protests.
“The purpose of the movement is to occupy with peace and non-violence, and this will encourage support,” 18-year-old student leader Joshua Wong said in a telephone interview when asked for his response to the poll.
Student leaders met with government officials led by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam in televised talks on Tuesday that failed to produce a solution to the biggest challenge to Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong since the end of colonial rule in 1997.
While gaining support from young people, the protesters are facing opposition from truck and cab drivers, as the roadblocks at the three protest sites have disrupted as much as 40 percent of bus routes and affected daily takings.
Three injunctions against the protesters have been granted this week, with one filed by closely-held Chiu Luen Public Light Bus Company Ltd. against the demonstrators at Mong Kok, a popular shopping district.
On Wednesday members from a taxi drivers association removed parts of make-shift barricades protesters erected at Mong Kok, with the material taken to a truck driven into the midst of the rally area. A man also attempted to set alight barricades.
In granting the injunctions, Court of First Instance Judge Jeremy Poon said while the occupy movement may be based on civil disobedience and the protesters may have the right to assemble, the scope and duration of the demonstrations run the risk of turning into civil disorder, according to a transcript of his ruling posted on Hong Kong’s judicial website.
“I do not think the fact that the demonstration is civil disobedience, no matter how noble the underlying cause the participants may consider it to be, can constitute a factor which militates against the granting of an injunction,” he wrote in the ruling.
Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings Ltd. and two bus associations applied to the court for a separate injunction against protesters blocking Harcourt Road in Admiralty, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. Frederik Balfour, Clement Tan and Pooi Koon Chong , Bloomberg