Occupy Central leaders call on students to retreat as they prepare to surrender to police

The leaders of Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) have this afternoon called on the remaining protesters to retreat as they prepare to surrender themselves to the police.

Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, Chu Yiu-ming and some of their supporters announced that they will give themselves up tomorrow as a show of their willingness to bear the legal consequences of their actions.

“Surrendering is not an act of cowardice, it is the courage to act on a promise. To surrender is not to fail, it is a silent denunciation of a heartless government,” they insisted at a press conference in Wan Chai.

While expressing their “fury” at the government and their “deepest sorrow” at seeing young people use “their bodies to withstand the blows of police batons”, the trio seemed to cautiously condemn the recent escalation of the protests, which have seen the vandalisation of government offices and attempted occupation of roads. 

“Civil disobedience is about breaking the law in a limited way through peaceful, non-violent means to fight for justice. As it is not the goal of civil disobedience to damage the rule of law, those engaging in it must have the courage to bear the legal consequences.”

Reaffirming that they will show commitment to such principles by surrendering themselves, OCLP urged the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Scholarism and other protesting citizens to draw back from the streets, and to “recuperate and build up strength in order to continue on the long road to democracy”.

The organisation explained that it would now bring its fight to the courts and professional organisations (to defend the rights of, and spark debate about, those engaged in civil disobedience) and to the community (through education on democracy and human rights).

Calling on the students to do the same, the OCLP leaders said, “Tomorrow’s battleground is expansive and now is the time to transform the people’s strength into a sustainable civil society movement, to sow the spirit of democracy deep into the community.”

The statement ended rather poignantly, “We mourn for Hong Kong. God bless our city!”

The press conference Q & A is still ongoing.