30 Facts About Lau Siu-lai

Lau Siu-lai is a Hong Kong educator, academic, activist, and politician.

Lau Siu-lai is a sociology lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Hong Kong Community College and the founder of Democracy Groundwork and Age of Resistance.

In 2016, Lau was elected to the Legislative Council, representing the Kowloon West geographical constituency until she was disqualified by the court on 14 July 2017 over her oath-taking manner at the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council on 12 October 2016.

Lau Siu-lai holds a bachelor's degree in social science, a master of philosophy in sociology, and a PhD in cultural sociology and historical sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Lau Siu-lai worked as a tutor at the Chinese University for a decade before joining the faculty of the Hong Kong Community College.

Lau Siu-lai taught a variety of sociology classes including Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theories, Hong Kong Society, Medical Society, Social Problems, and Gender Issues.

Lau Siu-lai gained prominence establishing Democracy Groundwork to hold "Democracy Classrooms" during the 2014 pro-democratic protests, teaching protesters about social justice and democracy.

Lau Siu-lai has challenged the Hong Kong government's suppression of hawking, and the crackdown on the traditional Kweilin Street Night Market, on the grounds that government policies toward street trading serves to bolster the hegemony of Hong Kong's dominant property conglomerates while unjustly persecuting the poor.

Lau Siu-lai has hawked food herself, as an act of civil disobedience, in support of hawkers.

Lau Siu-lai has organised street markets in Mei Foo, Sham Shui Po and Wong Tai Sin to demonstrate that hawking can be conducted in an orderly manner.

Lau Siu-lai urges the government to issue hawker licences, and to allow street markets throughout the territory to provide more choice to consumers.

Lau Siu-lai set up a stall in the street and sold squid in defiance, and was arrested.

Lau Siu-lai appeared at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court on 20 June 2016.

Lau Siu-lai was convicted on three counts, namely: obstruction of a public space, hawking without a licence, and cooking food for the purpose of hawking without a licence.

Lau Siu-lai was fined HK$1,800 and her hawking gear was seized under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance.

Lau Siu-lai stated that she would continue to hawk and would continue to support hawkers.

Lau Siu-lai said that the university's actions were politically motivated, stating that senior figures at the institute had told her that the president was under pressure from the university's governing council to take action against her.

Lau Siu-lai donated the $10 to her Democracy Groundwork and defended herself, stating that there was no conflict of interest, that hawking does not constitute formal employment, and that the ban on moonlighting applied only to full-time faculty.

Lau Siu-lai calls for the reform of Hong Kong's political system.

Lau Siu-lai said that allowing more hawking and street markets would provide more choice and spur competition.

Lau Siu-lai is regarded as a member of the localist camp, and pledged to work together with other newly elected localists Eddie Chu and Nathan Law.

At the Legislative Council swearing-in on 12 October 2016 Lau Siu-lai first read an altered version of the oath of office in protest.

Lau Siu-lai was asked to read it again, and she did so extremely slowly.

Lau Siu-lai, despite protesting in a similar manner to Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung, did not appear to be targeted by the court order.

Lau Siu-lai was finally sworn in on 2 November 2016 by Andrew Leung, despite the protests of pro-Beijing camp.

Jackson Kwan San-wai, who ran at the head of the Politihk Social Strategic list in the same constituency as Lau Siu-lai but lost, with his list gaining only 938 votes, filed an election petition against Lau Siu-lai in November 2016 on the grounds that by her conduct during the swearing-in she did not uphold the Basic Law.

However, on 29 May 2018, Lau Siu-lai announced that she was retracting her appeal, given uncertainty from the court about whether it could be heard with Leung's, as well as the cost and high psychological pressure of the case, and the delay it would cause to the opportunity for the democratic camp to regain the seat in a by-election.

On 29 June 2018, Lau Siu-lai joined the Labour Party, and brought her Democracy Groundwork group on board the party.

Lau Siu-lai publicly discussed the possibility of running to regain her old seat, either with the Labour Party or independently.

On 12 October 2018, Lau Siu-lai was disqualified by the Electoral Affairs Commission.