Campaign For G20 Ads Raises Millions In Just Hours

A crowd funding campaign to bring the ongoing extradition bill protests to global attention through advertisements on international media during the G20 summit, has evoked a huge public response with the donations reaching almost double the target in a few hours.

The campaign, which the site said was initiated by "Freedom Hongkonger", had started on Tuesday morning but stopped accepting donations after the contributions reached nearly HK$5.5 million, one full day ahead of their original time frame.

The site had messages that said the funding was over 180 percent and more than 22,000 people had made contributions.

The initiators said in the forum that the biggest amount given by a single contributor was HK$20,000. They said this should put a stop to speculation that this crowd funding was “affected by foreign influence”.

The campaign originated from the online forum, LIHKG, which is often described as Hong Kong's version of Reddit and 4chan where discussion forums allow anonymous chat.

Organisers said they want to put front-page ads on papers such as the New York Times, the Financial Times and The Guardian on Thursday, a day before the summit opens.

They said it’s important for the international community to speak out on the plight of Hong Kong people as the government had refused to address their demands.

If the ad space on certain newspapers have already been taken up, or should there by any used funds, organisers say the leftover money will be donated to the Anti-Extradition Protest Trust – a fund intended to support those who had been arrested or injured during anti-extradition protests this month.

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