Hong Kong student federation says it spent HK$220,000 on Occupy protests
A student group at the forefront of last year's Occupy Central campaign has opened its financial books in a bid to rebut claims it was funded from overseas.
A student group at the forefront of last year's Occupy Central campaign has opened its financial books in a bid to rebut claims it was funded from overseas.
The Federation of Students' financial report shows it spent close to HK$220,000 on the 79-day pro-democracy protests. The money went on equipment, leaflets and supplies, including food.
Hong Kong and Beijing officials claim Occupy was funded and influenced from overseas.
The protests were also funded by another student group, Scholarism, other pan-democratic parties and Occupy Central with Love and Peace, the group set up to coordinate it all, said the federation's Tommy Cheung Sau-yin.
"The disclosure serves as a rebuttal to those who uglify Occupy as a foreign-funded campaign and accuse us of receiving millions in illicit donations from unknown sources," Cheung said, adding many donations came from individual Hongkongers.
The federation provided almost all of the funds for the class boycott leading up to the protests, spending HK$332,000 on it. It received some HK$600,000 in donations, with nearly 2/3 coming during the boycott, the report stated. The interim accounts were dated to last month, but did not state the period covered.
