HK civil servants stage rally
( 2002-07-08 09:54 ) (3 )

About 30,000 civil servants demonstrate at Hong Kong's Victoria Park Sunday before a protest march against a government plan to cut their pay.

In the biggest-ever rally by public servants, about 30,000 from the civil service and public bodies Sunday marched in protest to oppose pay cuts through legislation.

But the government said the rally would not affect its resolve and that the second reading of the pay-adjustment bill would go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday.

The rally met with mixed reaction from the public. Some clapped their hands as the procession marched on while others criticized the civil servants for not accepting the pay cut and disrupting downtown traffic.

The rally began at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, at 2.30 pm. Three football pitches were flooded by civil servants from 100 trade unions, wearing orange headbands and carrying banners and placards.

Several unionist legislators took part in the rally, including K. K. Chan of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions; and Lau Chin-shek and Lee Cheuk-yan of the Confederation of Trade Unions.

Many of them walked the entire length of the procession route to the Central Government Offices.

The slogan-shouting protesters set off at 3 pm in five groups with the first reaching their destination at 4.30 pm.

After the rally leader handed a petition to a government representative, the first group made way for the others. All protesters started leaving at about 6.30 pm.

At a media session towards the end of the rally, Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong said he was relieved that the procession was peaceful and orderly.

But now that the civil servants had expressed their views, they should go back to their posts and continue with their jobs, he said.

"I believe this incident will not affect our governance," he said, hinting that the number of protesters constituted only a small percentage of civil servants and staff in public bodies.

"Since legislation is the only way to implement this year's pay-cut decision, we will move the second and third readings of the pay-cut bill," Wong stressed.

But Professor Anthony Cheung, head of the City University's Department of Public and Social Administration, said the rally had damaged the relationship between the government and the civil service and tarnished the SAR's international image.

He urged the government to resume negotiations with civil servants as soon as possible to win their support for reform.

Charles Wong, chief superintendent of the Police Public Relations Branch, said that around 300 policemen were mobilized to maintain order and regulate traffic along the way.

He estimated that the number of protesters was about 25,000 -- smaller than the figure predicted by the organizers.