Photo: CNS/Francis Wong
CARDINAL Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, joined the civil disobedience movement organisers who surrendered to police on December 3, with a hope to end the present occupation campaign that has lasted more than two months.
Cardinal Zen remained at the police station for an hour. As he left, he asked people to pray for democracy in the city.
The Occupy Central movement, a civil disobedience campaign to block roads in the central business area, was initiated by an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Baptist pastor Reverend Chu Yiu-ming in an effort to force the Hong Kong and Chinese governments to allow true democracy in the city.
The protesters feel government authorities have handpicked candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive.
Cardinal Zen had said on his blog in late November that struggling for democracy may be a long road, but a “miracle may take place, like David hurls a stone to hit down Goliath. And no one would expect that the Berlin Wall fell down all of a sudden 25 years ago.”
The cardinal, 82, is a supporter to the Occupy Central movement. Last June, he launched a walking campaign, walking 83.6km over seven days in different areas in Hong Kong, to ask more people to join an unofficial referendum on democratic reforms.
CNS
