Post date: Aug 10, 2012 2:11:50 PM
HONG KONG, CHINA (AUGUST 10, 2012)(REUTERS) - After nine months, protesters in Hong Kong occupying the entrance to the HSBC headquarters remain defiant ahead of a Monday court ruling to evict them.
After nine months, protesters in Hong Kong occupying the HSBC plaza, remain defiant ahead of a Monday court ruling to evict them.
HSBC asked a court on July 16 to let it evict protesters at its Asian headquarters which the occupiers have not contested.
"I would attempt to say, first of all, one of the fundamental principles of this organisation is that we believe in direct action. We don't believe we have to go through any kind of intermediary to occupy space and open it up for common usage. And so we're not intending to going to court on Monday and we're not intending on standing on trial and defending ourselves in that fashion. Because we don't believe HSBC has a legitimate authority to summon us to court and to evacuate us in the first place," said Ian Nin, an NGO employee and self-confessed anarchist.
The protesters' camp, music bands, and banners denouncing capitalism have become a fixture in Hong Kong's most exclusive business districts.
But Nin said it provided a much-needed outlet for Hong Kong society, unhappy living in a global financial hubs with one of the world's widest wealth gaps.
"Lots of people that gravitate towards this space, either because it is novel in some way, or because they want to try camping out one night, or because of the occupy Wall Street movement or the movement in the West, they can sort of identify themselves in some sense, and the kind of agenda that movement is putting forward," he said.
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement which began in New York on September 17th 2011 and spread to cities worldwide, the Hong Kong protest is one of the last to remain.