If the Occupy Wall Street movement has a ring of deja vu about it for Hong Kong, that's because the city has its own version of street occupation in protest of 'corporate greed' and 'devil banks'.
Almost every weekday since December 2008, the pavements outside various bank branches across Hong Kong have been occupied by disgruntled Lehman Brothers minibond holders seeking compensation from the banks that sold them the minibonds, which became worthless or nearly so after the unexpected demise of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
The protesters, many of them over the age of 60, aired their grievances by drumming, banging on gongs, putting up banners with strident messages (for example, 'The financial centre of Hong Kong is dead' and 'Bankers are w**kers), and ceaselessly playing recordings about their plight through loudspeakers.
Mock-ups of funeral parlour altars were erected on pavements, with ghostly black-and-white pictures of Hong Kong finance officials.
The noise - literally and figuratively - of the campaign was remarkable. Many bank branches repeatedly called in the police; DBS Bank, the Bank of China and Chong Hing Bank had sought injunctions against protesters; and the media covered the campaign.
And it was effective. In May this year, 16 of the banks in question agreed to repay about 31,000 of the 40,000 'Lehman victims' up to 96.5 per cent of their investment.
