A growing majority of people in Hong Kong support the pro-democracy movement’s goals after China introduced the National Security Law for the territory, but backing for the protest movement was a smaller 44 percent, a survey conducted for Reuters showed.
Demonstrations have been far fewer and smaller than the mass protests that rocked Hong Kong in the second half of last year, largely because of COVID-19-related restrictions on gatherings and the effects of the sweeping new legislation, analysts say.
The survey taken by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) was the first since the legislation was passed on June 30.
Photo: Reuters
It found that nearly 60 percent of people were opposed to the legislation, up from about 57 percent in HKPORI’s previous survey in June, when few of the details were known.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) office and China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which falls under the Chinese State Council, did not respond to requests for comment.
Ivan Choy (蔡子強), a senior lecturer at Chinese University of Hong Kong’s department of government and public administration, said that public attitudes shifted after the legislation was implemented.
“Now there are more concerns when you ask people to come out” to protest, he said, adding that police arrests have triggered “more anger in society.”
Police said they had arrested 25 people, as of Aug. 20, including protesters, activists and tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) under the legislation, which makes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces punishable with up to life in prison.
The Hong Kong Police Force did not respond to a request to comment on the impact of the arrests on public opinion.
The government has said that the legislation was needed to plug holes in national security exposed by the protests and to restore stability in Hong Kong. The survey found public support for the legislation was slightly more than 31 percent.
Critics have said the legislation has further eroded the wide-ranging freedoms promised to the territory on its return to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement.
The latest survey asked: How much do you support or oppose the pro-democracy protest movement? The responses showed support at about 44 percent.
The question replaced one in the June survey that asked: “Generally speaking, how much do you support or oppose the protest movement surrounding the extradition bill?”
The responses showed support at about 51 percent.
Drawing firm conclusions from the near-seven-percentage-point drop was difficult due to uncertainty over the effects of the changed wording, HKPORI head Robert Chung (鍾庭耀) said.
The changes were made because the extradition bill has faded as an issue after it was withdrawn.
For the poll, 1,007 respondents were randomly surveyed by telephone. The results, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points as in previous polls, were weighted according to the latest population figures.
Although protests have been smaller and less frequent, the poll showed that backing for the pro-democracy movement’s key goals has risen.
Support for the request for an independent commission of inquiry to look into how police handled the demonstrations saw a rise of roughly 4 percentage points to 70 percent.
The police did not respond to a request to comment on the level of public support for an independent inquiry.
Police and the government have repeatedly said they used minimum force, that their sole goal was to restore law and order, and that there were adequate existing mechanisms to prevent and punish any indiscipline.
Support for universal suffrage, another key demand, remains strong with the backing of 63 percent of Hong Kong citizens, about the same as in the June poll.
Support for amnesty for the arrested protesters rose to almost 50 percent, up five percentage points since June.
Lam remains unpopular with 58 percent of respondents saying she should resign, little changed from the June poll. Nevertheless, that is an improvement over perceptions in March, when 63 percent of respondents said she should resign.
Opposition to the pro-democracy movement’s demands inched down to 19 percent from 21.5 percent.
The survey also showed that support for Hong Kong independence, which is anathema to Beijing and a focal point of the new legislation, remained at about 20 percent, while opposition to independence hovered slightly below 60 percent.
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