Umbrellas were supposed to be out, but it rained at anti-Occupy rally

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 November, 2014, 4:04am

UPDATED : Saturday, 08 November, 2014, 4:04am

Joyce Ng and Emily Tsang

Anti-Occupy demonstrators in Victoria Park. Photo: Felix Wong

A small group of anti-Occupy demonstrators, including a man accused of assaulting a reporter, gathered in Victoria Park last night to denounce the civil disobedience movement.

The rally, organised by a group calling themselves "Occupy Central does not represent me", started in heavy rain.

About 200 people sat under a tarpaulin and - ironically - umbrellas, holding signboards that read "go home". Organisers had asked participants not to bring umbrellas, which have become the main symbol of the Occupy Central movement.

Among the demonstrators calling on those who have been occupying sites in Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay for the past six weeks to abandon their sit-in was Sam So Ming-sang, a Chinese medicine practitioner who has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a TVB reporter at another anti-Occupy rally in Tsim Sha Tsui last month.

One organiser, Tang Tak-shing, who said he was a farmer, said the event aimed to allow the "silent majority" to speak up against the Occupy movement. "The roads have been blocked for more than 40 days, the livelihoods of normal people are greatly affected," Tang said.

More than 20 people took turns to speak on the stage, urging the mainly student protesters to return to class.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Students delivered an open letter to former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, asking him to arrange a meeting with state leaders so they can put across their views on electoral reform. The federation also said it would postpone a planned trip by members to Beijing until after next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders' summit.

In the letter, the students asked Tung, also a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, for his help, saying the Hong Kong government had "lost the will to act and the ability to govern".

"Participants of Occupy have always hoped to propel social and political reform - they are not blindly occupying [the streets]," the letter reads. "We sincerely hope Mr Tung can demonstrate his statesmanship, not just by taking businessmen to the north, but also by arranging for students to meet central government officials in Hong Kong or in Beijing."

In September, Tung led a 70-strong delegation including tycoons and members of the business elite to the capital to meet President Xi Jinping .

The students say they hope to talk to Zhang Dejiang , chairman of the National People's Congress, and Li Fei , chairman of the NPC's Basic Law Committee.

Alex Chow Yong-kang, secretary general of the federation, explained why they had put off going to Beijing.

"We have taken the advice of friends working on the mainland that crashing the Apec summit may only raise tensions," he said.

Tung's office has yet to give a response.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is expected to meet Xi in Beijing tomorrow ahead of the Apec summit.

And in another development, the student activist group Scholarism claimed one of its members had been denied entry to Shenzhen, despite the trip being of a "personal nature".

YEAH IT IS MORE & MORE A MESS THANKS CY LEUNG !