China has reportedly paid tens of thousands of protesters to march against Hong Kong’s democratic movement. The rally’s organizers, Alliance for Peace and Democracy, demonstrated Sunday against Hong Kong’s Occupy Central with Love and Peace–which is proposing a change in Hong Kong’s electoral system.
Eighty to 90 thousand participants took part in the Sunday afternoon protest march, according to Hong Kong University’s Public Opinion Program.
However, strong allegations that organizers paid the protesters immediately emerged.
A reporter for Now News, a Hong Kong TV news channel, attended the protest and received $50 and a meal for his participation. When the reporter returned the money and identified himself, he was told that the money was that of one of the protest organizers.
In addition, many of the marchers were said to have been mainland Chinese–not Hong Kong residents.
The Alliance for Peace and Democracy protest was a response to a movement in Hong Kong to change the electoral system. Currently, the Chinese Communist Party has the prerogative to filter out candidates for the chief executive office of Hong Kong. A recent Hong Kong Occupy protest that took place July 1 saw over 150,000 protesters turn out.
By Day Blakely Donaldson