This year’s 1 July protest march - held less than a week after the electoral reform proposals for 2012 were passed by Legco - was the first march to be held amidst internecine warfare in the pan-Democratic camp. While the Democratic Party was a natural target for criticism, the repercussions of the League of Social Democrats’ more extreme tactics also became increasingly apparent - both during and after the march.
Members of the Democratic Party received near-universal condemnation from protest participants after voting for the electoral reform proposals - funds raised during the march tumbled from $300,000 to $45,000 (link in Chinese), and Democratic Party stations were dogged by disenchanted Party supporters playing back Democrats’ previous statements on electoral reform through loudspeakers. A survey showed that, of the participants in the march, 67% saw the Democratic Party in a poorer light after the electoral reform votes (link in Chinese).
The Democrats were - as they should have been - well aware of the possibility of a backlash. But - leaving aside the instance where Party veteran Szeto Wah comparing his interlocutors to livestock for suggesting that the Hong Kong public could be “sold out” - nobody in the Party made an attempt to explain or justify the Party’s position. The Democrats are now moving to disclose details of negotiations with the Central Government (link in Chinese), but this damage control may well prove to be “too little, too late”.
However, the more radical League of Social Democrats - superficially the party with the most to gain from the Democrats’ volte-face - have troubles of their own. LSD legislator “Long-hair” Leung Kwok-hung was doused with water by irate protesters at the march; a subsequent counter-demonstration (link in Chinese) hints at a wider backlash. Worse from the LSD’s perspective, the League is drawing in young radicals who the League itself cannot bring to heel (link in Chinese). Facing the possibility of a backlash over its radical antics, the LSD is likely to find its most enthusiastic young members to be an increasing liability.
