Benny Tai

Benny Tai Yiu-ting, MH(Chinese: 戴耀廷; born 12 July 1964) is a Hong Kong legal scholar and democracy activist. He is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong and is known for his initiation of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a non-violent civil disobedience campaign to pressure the Hong Kong government to implement full democracy in 2014, which turned into the massive pro-democracy protests.

Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming, lead first OCLP-linked march (Black Banner protest), 14 September 2014

Quotes

• We’re moving from a semi-democratic to a semi-authoritarian system and the central government wants to limit our freedoms.
  • April 23, 2018 Free speech fears as Beijing attacks Hong Kong professor

• I only said that independence was one theoretical option for Hong Kong if the party collapses, alongside a federal state or an EU-style confederation.
  • April 23, 2018 Free speech fears as Beijing attacks Hong Kong professor

"There will be darker times ahead for Hong Kong but the sun will rise again" (April 19, 2019)

April 19, 2019 "There will be darker times ahead for Hong Kong but the sun will rise again"

• People in Hong Kong still believe in democracy – the big question after the Umbrella Movement is how we can achieve it.

• If the struggle for democracy is a long battle, what is a few months or years in prison if I can gain more resilience for the future.

• There will be darker times ahead for Hong Kong, but the sun will rise again. We need to keep strong.