Hong Kong students and teachers protested Tuesday for a sixth straight day against plans to introduce Chinese patriotism classes, as political tensions rise days ahead of legislative polls, the AFP reports. Protesters at the government headquarters said they would not vote for parties that supported “national education”, which they say is a bid to brainwash children with Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
“I feel national education is an important issue because it could affect many generations of children’s education,” second year university student Cheung Nga-lam said at the demonstration, which began on Thursday.
“The new Legislative Council members will definitely have an influence on the issue because whatever they say affects society.”
The former British colony goes to the polls on Sunday to elect a new 70-seat legislature, but power will continue to reside with the pro-Beijing executive appointed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Leung has ignored protesters’ calls for a meeting and refused to abandon plans to implement the new education policy, which schools can adopt voluntarily from this week and will become compulsory by 2016…
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