Hong Kong summit of global women’s group Zonta International goes ahead despite escalation of violence at weekend
- About 10 per cent of the 480 delegates did not make it to the NGO’s three-day summit in Wan Chai
- The US-based group, an advocate for women’s equality in society and workplace, planned the biennial event 18 months ago
The regional arm of global women’s empowerment organisation Zonta International pressed ahead with its advocacy work in Hong Kong even though a high-profile summit at the weekend coincided with an escalation of violence in the city.
The US-based body’s three-day summit did not escape unscathed, however, with about 10 per cent of the 480 delegates from mostly Asian cities not making it to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, an area now frequently engulfed in mayhem as radical anti-government protesters clash with police.
Zonta could not have foreseen such a politically charged atmosphere – not to mention tear gas-filled neighbourhoods, paralysed public transport, blocked roads and closed malls – when it planned the biennial event 18 months ago.
“Hong Kong is still a safe place at this moment although some people may think otherwise,” said Teresa Lin Lau Shuk-ying, governor of one of Zonta’s largest regional groups, District 17.
“Zonta International and local groups are non-political, not that we are not interested or aware of [politics] … When we have on our Zonta hat, we want to focus on the particular interests in this region and the world in helping women.”
The new anti-mask law, which critics claimed was unconstitutional, sparked three straight days of violence and vandalism as mobs of protesters rampaged across the city, trashing MTR stations, government property and private businesses.
