All those instant noodles and cardboard mattresses add up, it seems.
The newly revealed financial records of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) show that it spent nearly HKD220,000 during last year’s pro-democracy protests, which lasted for almost three months.
The money was apparently spent on things like equipment, brochures and supplies, including food and, of course, umbrellas.
The student group decided to open up its books to put to bed claims that it received overseas funding for the campaign.
“The disclosure serves as a rebuttal to those who uglify Occupy as a foreign-funded campaign and accuse us of receiving millions in illicit donations from unknown sources,” Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, a member of the federation, told the SCMP.
He further added that HKFS received funding from Scholarism, Hong Kong’s other politically-focussed student group, pan-democratic parties, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, and individual local donors.
Throughout the protests, government officials alleged that the well-eorganised demonstrations had been influenced and funded by foreign sources.
Executive Council member and lawmaker Regina Ip said it was only “common sense” to suspect Occupy had foreign backing just by looking at the abundance of supplies at the protest sites.
Photo: Kevin Dharmawan
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