Dozens of protesters gathered outside the government’s headquarters on Sunday to voice their dissatisfaction with the administration’s failure to address the city’s poverty problem.
Pro-democracy lawmakers Lau Siu-lai and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung participated in the protest. Members of the Labour Party, labour group Neighbourhood and Worker’s Service Centre and other civil groups were also present.
They criticised Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for failing to keep his promise to alleviate poverty and instead cutting funding in areas that benefit the underprivileged, such as healthcare and social welfare payments.
The protesters also took aim at incoming leader Carrie Lam, who refused to endorse the proposal of universal retirement protection during office as chief secretary and chair of the government’s Commission on Poverty.
“The government uses white elephant infrastructure projects as an excuse to allow property developers, the MTR Corporation, Link REIT, business groups and red capital to snatch money from Hong Kong’s treasury,” the League of Social Democrats said in a statement.
The protest came two days after the Census and Statistics Department found that the city’s household income inequality rose to a record high last year, with a Gini co-efficient of 0.539. A score of 0.537 was recorded during the last census in 2011.
See also: Hong Kong household income inequality rises to record high, census shows
