Not everyone is happy with the city's plan to expand its services at Hong Kong International Airport, and they're demanding answers
Joseph Lai Yee-tak, Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, Fred Lam Tin-fuk, and Andy Yau Pak-hang present the new plan.Students outside the Chief Executive's office yesterday protested the plan to construct a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport. About 20 members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, student unions of various universities, and groups such as Age of Resistance said the government passed the plan at the Executive Council by force.
They demanded the government withdraw the plan and make public economic impact assessment reports and agreements made with the mainland. They also called for Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung and the Hong Kong Airport Authority to be questioned at Legco.
A video of the protest posted on Facebook shows a youth telling Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying about the plan's financial issues, citing a bank report and claiming he was a representative of "Hell Bank".
Leung listens for about 20 seconds before asking the representative to lower his voice. The young man replies that he was worried that the media could not hear him. Then Leung turns around and walks back into his office, while the protesters shout slogans at him.
Police also recorded the HKID card numbers of some students who were throwing joss money.
The planned HK$141.5 billion third runway is facing strong opposition. According to the latest survey, two-thirds of Hongkongers want the Airport Authority to focus on improving operations of its two runways before considering building a third.
This is very different from the government study held four years ago, which found 73 per cent of residents supported having a new runway.