Location: Sogo, Hong Kong, China
Time: 28 Apr, 2pm +10UTC
Number of participants: 500+
Participants began gathering outside of Sogo, Causeway Bay, at 2pm. Organizers estimated that about 50 would come, and two days before the event, the number swelled to 100. But by the time everyone gathered outside of Sogo, the organizers received a warning from the police for underestimating their number! We had about 500 participants, and some of them were Malaysian tourists who happened to be in HK this weekend. Malaysians in Macau, Shenzhen, and Guangdong also came down to join our rally.
At Sogo, we sang Negaraku, and some of the organizers gave speeches explaining why clean elections are important to our democracy, and these speeches were given in Malay, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and even Hokkien. At 3pm, the HK police led our group on a march to the Malaysian Consulate in Wan Chai. Upon arrival, the Bersih demands were read out, and we sang the national anthem again. When it came time to hand over the memorandum, the Consulate General refused to come out to meet us and asked one of the organizers to go in instead. We refused, and the crowd began to chant “Buka pintu, buka pintu.” At which point, someone came out briefly to receive out memorandum. Most of the crowd dispersed, but small groups proceeded to a restaurant in a neighborhood to discuss post-Bersih plans.
Admin,
Thanks for your great work.
Please note, the above photos and event report is for Hong Kong, but has been mistakenly entitled Manchester, UK.