Occupy Central's attempt to register as a company hits a roadblock
Registry questions whether company set up to manage campaign would have 'lawful purpose'
An application to set up a company to run the affairs of the Occupy Central pro-democracy campaign has dragged on for over five months, with the Companies Registry questioning whether the business was being set up for a "lawful purpose".
Campaign organisers say the government is using executive measures to obstruct lawful activities. They say the high-profile idea of rousing 10,000 people to join a sit-in on the streets of Central next year is only part of their plan, and will not happen if the government agrees to an acceptable form of universal suffrage.
Dr Chan Kin-man, one of the organisers, said the application to set up OCLP Limited was filed in May. But, despite five written exchanges with the registry, no decision has yet been given.
Without a company registration, Occupy Central cannot set up a bank account and must use that of the Hong Kong Democratic Development Network.
In its latest reply on October 15, the registry cited the Companies Ordinance, which states that companies can be set up "for any lawful purpose". It questioned whether civil disobedience would meet that definition.
"Civil disobedience was never the purpose of this company or this campaign," Chan said. "What we want to do is to promote human rights and to achieve universal suffrage. Our seminars, lectures and deliberation meetings are all lawful civic education activities," he said, referring to events intended to drum up ideas on the best mechanism for the 2017 chief executive election, due to be carried out on a one-person, one-vote basis.
"It is very common on the mainland for the authorities to obstruct political groups by executive measures. I never imagined it would happen in Hong Kong," he added. "Other radical groups … all have their registrations."
