'People Condemning Now Had Already Ruined Legco'

A member of the Mothers Group, which is organising a gathering at Chater Garden on Friday, has said that those who are condemning the young people who ransacked Legco on Monday are the same people who have already destroyed the spirit of the legislature.

"I don't think those condemnations are justified. Yes, they [the protesters] did damage the Legco building. But what they destroyed were glass panels and they destroyed some of the walls with graffiti. But we have to ask the question who had already destroyed the legislature?" said Sealing Cheng, an academic at Chinese University.

"The spirit of the legislature is to reflect the people's will and people's voices. The Legislative Council has lost this function for at least the last five to ten years because the pro-Beijing government as well as the pro-Beijing politicians have been using it as a kind of rubber stamp," she said.

Cheng said youngsters shouldn't be blamed for resorting to radical action because it was the Carrie Lam administration which forced them to do so.

She said people took to the street in their thousands and all they got from the government was silence. "They had expressed their demands in the most peaceful way. And what did they get? If not complete silence, it was humiliation," Cheng said.

She told RTHK's Priscilla Ng that it is important for adults to back the younger generation as they are being driven to desperation and she hopes thousands of people will attend Friday's event.

A similar rally called by the group attracted thousands of people last month. That was after Chief Executive Lam in an interview said that bowing to protesters' demands to drop the extradition bill would be like a mother giving in to a stubborn child.