The New York Times
Deal Book
By NEIL GOUGH
Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Posters were on display Monday near protesters’
tents outside HSBC offices in Hong Kong.
HONG KONG — As global movements against capitalism go, the members of Occupy Hong Kong have demonstrated surprising staying power.
If ever there was a city where pure or considerably unfettered capitalism has approached its logical end, surely Hong Kong is it. The city is home to more billionaires than popularly elected legislators. It has more Cartier, Gucci, Hermès and Louis Vuitton boutiques than Hong Kong Island has hospitals or post offices. Buddhism and Taoism are the main religions here, but bank branches outnumber temples by more than two to one.
“In Hong Kong, if you don’t follow the rules set by big corporations and big capitalism, you just cannot survive,” said Tiv Wong, a young publishing industry freelancer who has been active in the Occupy movement.
Even against this backdrop, Occupy Hong Kong has stayed on for nine months. But the protest in Hong Kong — where demonstrators have staked their claims to an open-air plaza beneath the Asian headquarters of HSBC in Central, Hong Kong’s financial district — may be in its last days.
On Monday, a legal bid by HSBC to obtain a court order to evict the protesters came before a judge for the first time.
Many in the city are surprised that the bank waited so long to take action. But the first hearing ended in a draw, as the court allowed time for the three named defendants, who have no lawyers and are representing themselves, to submit reasons that they should be allowed to stay.
Two defendants, Ho Yiu-shing and Wong Chung-hang, are promoting the Occupy movement’s goals. The third, Mui Kai-ming, is protesting against HSBC over the execution of his sister’s will.
A follow-up hearing was scheduled for Aug. 13, effectively giving the occupiers an extra month at their camp. Still, the case could result in a clash that might become ugly.
“If there’s an order for us to move out at last, we will try our best to stay,” Mr. Wong said. “Of course, some of us don’t believe in law and may not follow the court order.”
It may seem surprising that the protesters in Hong Kong have managed to lay their claim to their site even as their counterparts at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan and at St. Paul’s Cathedral and Finsbury Park in London have long since been evicted by the authorities or decamped of their own accord.
But a look at the wealth gap in Hong Kong indicates how the idea of the Occupy movement has captured a degree of support.
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