Throughout the afternoon there was a forum, where groups and individuals took the floor in turn. Left 21 members attacked capitalism for bringing the disparity of wealth because it only cares about profit. In Hong Kong a handful of rich people monopolize the wealth of the people so the latter can only earn subsistence wages. The anti-nuclear alliance activist Man Si Wei pointed out that the nuclear power industry was nurtured by the nuclear industry in order to make money. The nuclear industry colluded with the government and the United Nations in fooling the public over the issue of the so called safety level of the amount of radiation absorbed by the body, which does not have real scientific basis. The Japanese government, after the disaster in Fukushima, raised the safety level arbitrarily proved this. Lam Chi Leung from Pioneer pointed out that global capitalism has become a big casino. Huge amounts of social resources are concentrated in the hands of a few large financial groups, while public medical care, education and social welfare are denied the necessary funding. He called for the overthrowing of the regime of the rich to make way for a government of the working people to fix the problem.
In the late afternoon the forum was adjoined, and all participants marched to the headquarter of the HSBC to continue the assembly and occupation. After the demonstrators arrived at the HSBC headquarters, the police warned demonstrators that their assembly was illegal, and the demonstrators responded with boo. Eventually they were left untouched by the police. There are dozens of protesters who camped at the site overnight and are now still ongoing when this report is made.
October 17, 2011
First published on China Labour Net.