HONG KONG
A student group behind last year’s Umbrella Movement protests in Hong Kong has been split by the decision of students from the territory’s leading university to leave, local media reported Sunday.
In a disagreement over leadership of the democracy movement, University of Hong Kong students voted to quit the Hong Kong Federation of Students, according to the South China Morning Post.
The newspaper called it the biggest split in the federation’s 57-year history.
More than 6,000 students voted with 2,522 in favor of leaving the federation and 2,278 against. There were 1,293 abstentions in a referendum that drew a 39 percent turnout, the highest in five years.
The referendum was sparked by a groundswell of support for the Localist Movement, which emphasizes the former British colony’s autonomy from Beijing and even seeks independence from China. There are also concerns about tension between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese students on campus.
Calls to leave the federation had been mounting since protests last year against Beijing's restrictions on constitutional reform. Some students were dissatisfied with the handling of the sit-ins, the Post reported.
Two of the leading figures of the Umbrella Movement belong to the University of Hong Kong – Alex Chow and Yvonne Leung.
Tommy Cheung, president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong's student union, who sits on the federation's standing committee, said the loss of the University of Hong Kong students would weaken the federation's position but would not affect the student democracy movement as a whole.
