Protesters gather to mark birthday of 'Raincoat Man'

Protesters gather to mark birthday of 'Raincoat Man'

People laid flowers and lit candles in memory of Marco Leung who fell to his death on June 15 last year. Photo: RTHK

Scores of people gathered outside Pacific Place in Admiralty on Saturday evening to mark the birthday of a man who plunged to his death from a platform at the mall last summer after he had strung up banners relating to the extradition bill movement.



Marco Leung died on June 15, three days after the first major clashes of the crisis took place near the mall, when tens of thousands of people surrounded Legco to prevent lawmakers from debating changes to the city's extradition laws.



Leung, who has also become known as "Raincoat Man", fell from the high platform, missing a large inflated cushion that firefighters had placed on the ground.



Mourners say his was the first of a number of deaths linked to the ongoing anti-government protest movement.



On Saturday, as on previous occasions, people lit candles and laid flowers as a tribute to Leung, who was in his mid-30s.



Some held up banners calling for Hong Kong independence, while the protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" blasted out periodically.



Some passing vehicles sounded their horns as a show of support for the demonstration.



A man surnamed Chan urged those in the crowd to be more active in promoting the anti-government campaign on social media.



He said Leung had died for Hong Kong, and everyone should at least try to contribute to the movement.



"To post your idea, we have to post our face, we have to tell the world what we fight for. It is not about the economy, it is not about money, it is not about the realistic, but the dream. The dream for us is for freedom. We hope we can liberate Hong Kong and fight for our own freedom," Chan said.



He added that democracy is a characteristic of developed societies, but Hong Kong's freedom has been deteriorating.



A woman surnamed Ho said she felt that all people can do now is come together to express their emotions over Hong Kong's situation.



"Very sad, also frustrated. There have been sacrifices by so many people, of course it's sad. But there seems to be nothing that we can do, so perhaps one of the things we can still do is to vent our feelings here."



A number of riot police were keeping an eye on the crowd from the other side of Queensway.