by JEAN SHAOUL
About 10,000 mainly young protestors took to the streets in downtown Hong Kong on March 6 to oppose the government’s budget, which will further enrich the financial elite in one of the most unequal societies in East Asia. The demonstration was called by the region’s opposition parties.
Protestors criticised the government for not doing enough to help the poor and called for John Tsang Chun-wah, Hong Kong’s unelected financial secretary, to resign. The police intervened, leading to scuffles that resulted in several people being injured. They used pepper spray to disperse demonstrators, hurting an eight-year-old boy, and arrested 113 protestors, including two boys aged 12 and 13.
A government spokesman said in a statement that Hong Kong authorities would “listen to and carefully consider the views expressed by the public with an open mind”.
The protest took place following a wave of criticism over the government’s failure to initiate long term measures to help the poor, sick and elderly. The government had been forced to revise its budget and grant HK$6,000 (US$771) to each Hong Kong permanent resident to help people cope with inflation, which is expected to hit 4.5 percent this year. But this derisory measure has done little to assuage public discontent, particularly among the many migrant workers who do the worst and lowest paid jobs.
The government has a record HK$580 billion budget surplus, following seven years of budget surpluses. Hong Kong now has fiscal reserves of nearly HK$600 billion, even after spending more than HK$87.6 billion since 2008 to counter the global financial crisis. The reserves are expected to rise every year from 2012 to 2016 by HK$50 billion to HK$70 billion. But despite this, the unelected ruling clique has refused to implement measures to address Hong Kong’s high and growing levels of inequality.
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