Johannesburg - South Africans who live in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protests have steadily gained momentum, say the city is peaceful and its residents unified in their quest for democracy.
The city of 7.2 million people is on Wednesday expected to be a sea of yellow, the colour signifying support for the protest, as demonstrators fill the streets for the “umbrella revolution” as the protest has been dubbed.
Wednesday is China’s National Day.
Gary Swart, a South African teacher living and working in Causeway Bay, said umbrellas became a symbol after students had used them to protect themselves from tear gas. From his window, he said, he could see the road blockaded by protesters.
“The energy among them is electric. Their passion is tangible,” he said.
He said he joined the protest every night this week after he had finished work because as a South African he understood what it meant to fight for democracy.
The protest had been due to start on Wednesday but students in the city had “jumped the gun” on the Occupy Central Movement.
Swart said hordes of people had joined them in support on Sunday when police had used teargas and pepper spray
“It has been extremely peaceful. There’s no violence from the protesters’ side,” Swart said.
“Not a single protester is retaliating and when one does get agitated, the rest of the group will calm them down to make sure it doesn’t get violent.”
Susanna Janse van Vuuren, a Cape Town teacher living in Hong Kong, said she had been sick on Saturday and could not visit her usual weekend haunt, Central, the main financial district and a popular area on Hong Kong Island. Over the weekend protests had been limited to that area, but had since spread beyond the central district and to the mainland, she said.
“The official protest was planned for this week and then the students just kind of went for it on Saturday and it’s been gaining momentum ever since,” she said, adding that there were now “massive crowds” in Kowloon on the mainland where she lives.
Janse van Vuuren said schools and banks had closed even before Wednesday’s public holiday. From what she understood there was no democracy and citizens were “not allowed to choose leaders or even put forward a candidate”.
Ricardo Brocco, from Johannesburg, said he expected the protest to escalate drastically today. “They say ‘we just want the right to our democracy and we’ll stay here for it’,” he said.