Matt Pearce

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Matt Pearce (born 1975) is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong and a member of International Action (www.thebiggerpicture.hk). He has lived in Hong Kong since 1997, but is originally from Bristol in England. He is also an English language teacher. He is known as "Hong Kong Spiderman". He is a founding member of the League of Social Democrats.

[edit] Activism

On December 12, 2004, Pearce ran onto the Sha Tin Racecourse before the start of the Hong Kong Cup wearing a horse costume with a T-shirt saying "DEMAND DEMOCRACY NOW". His action delayed the race by a few minutes. The protest was inspired by Emily Davison . Pearce was convicted of disorderly conduct and causing a public nuisance and given a suspended one month prison sentence on each charge. Both convictions and sentences were later quashed by the Court of Appeal.

On March 14, 2005, Pearce was arrested for handcuffing himself to the front door of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange dressed as Robin Hood. He claimed that the gap between the rich and poor in Hong Kong is unacceptable. He was released without charge.

On June 3, 2005, Pearce climbed to the top of large outdoor TV screen in Central dressed as Spiderman and unfurled a banner that said "Tiananmen Square 4.6.1989 : Justice Must Prevail. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". He got his nickname "Spiderman" from this incident. For this protest, he was convicted of causing a public nuisance and given a 21 day prison sentence. On Appeal the sentence was changed to 21 days imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

On December 21, 2005, Pearce, dressed as Santa Claus, climbed up onto a road sign across Connaught Road Central while the Legislative Council voted on constitutional developments and unveiled a large banner saying "The People Want Democracy Now". He was charged with public nuisance. He pleaded guilty and was given 100 hours of community service.

On Labour Day (May 1) 2006, Pearce deflated a giant inflatable McDonalds box advert that had been put up in Hong Kong harbour. He has been charged with criminal damage. He is due in court on November 6 2006.

Hong Kong newspapers reported on August 7 2006 that Pearce was taking the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang, to the Small Claims Court. Pearce claimed that he had lent his pet fish to the Chief Executive and that the fish had died before it was returned. Pearce said that the name of his pet carp was "Democracy". The Chief Executive is known for his love of carp and has a pond at Government House.

[edit] Personal Matters

Matt Pearce loitering outside Chinese International School.

Matt's personal life is as colourful as his political life. On March 15, 2006, he was charged with 2 counts of criminal intimidation and 12 counts of loitering. He pleaded not-guilty and said he was not loitering, but staging a public demonstration. Dressed in a Superman costume he was holding a protest placard outside Chinese International School saying "Educate your teachers!" and handing out leaflets saying that some teachers were morally corrupt. One female teacher has now resigned at the end of the school year, although whether this is due to his protests is unclear. On June 23, 2006 Matt Pearce was convicted of all charges by the magistrate William Lam. He received a 42-week jail sentence. On 14.07.06, after 3 weeks imprisonment, a High Court Judge released him on bail pending Appeal. The High Court Judge indicated that there were strong grounds for Appeal on both the conviction and sentence. Article 27 of the Basic Law states Hong Kong residents are entitled to stage peaceful demonstrations and permitted freedom of expression in public. Pearce was quoted in one Chinese weekly magazine as saying outside the court, "It's easy staging a demonstration like a democracy protest, when you know most people will automatically support you. The test of a good activist, is to follow your conscience and do the right thing on issues, even when you know many people won't approve."