Alvin Cheng Kam-mun ( zh, t=鄭錦滿, born 23 June 1988), also known as "Brother Four Eyes" ( zh, t=四眼哥哥, links=no), is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

, a member of

Civic Passion Civic Passion was a radical, populist, localist, and nativist political party in Hong Kong. Founded by Wong Yeung-tat as an activist group in 2012, it held strong localist views and opposed the involvement of the Chinese government in the ...

, and founder of

student activist Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...

organization Student Front. In 2014, he led a rally in support of the Hong Kong

Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to dispe ...

during the G20 Brisbane summit.

Political career

On 22 September 2014, in response to the arrest of student protesters in the Hong Kong

Cheng returned home from his studies at

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

to participate in the protest. In November 2014, Cheng went back to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

to lead a rally in support for the Umbrella Movement during the

2014 G20 Brisbane summit The 2014 G20 Brisbane summit was the ninth meeting of the G20 heads of government/heads of state.

. On the 16th, the four-hour rally on a lawn outside the summit venue attracted participation by many overseas students from Hong Kong,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and Mainland China. On 6 December 2014, Cheng established Student Front, a

organization to fight against the "stage power" and to remain at the frontlines after the

Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...

and

Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNNbr>Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong Kong's education po ...

quit the protests. He was arrested on suspicion of attending, and inciting others to take part in, an illegal assembly. He wrote an article that indicated he was arrested on 26 December 2014 and not granted

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

. After the Umbrella Movement, Cheng continued with numerous protest activities, such as

gau wu ''Gau Wu'' () (Cantonese pronunciation: Gau1 Wu1), is a Cantonese expression that was coined shortly after an interview clip in which the term was used was broadcast by HK cable TV in August 2014. The expression means "disorderly shouting" or "sq ...

and the movement against parallel trading. He was arrested on several occasions and found it difficult to obtain bail. He was then banned from entering

Mong Kok Mong Kok (also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK) is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. Mong Kok is one of the major shopping areas in Hong Kong. The area is characterised ...

by a court order. On 2 March 2015, Cheng announced that Student Front was dissolved and warned other activists not to depend completely on "student activism organizations". On the morning of 27 April 2015, Cheng was involved in a dispute with supporters of

Avery Ng Avery Ng Man-yuen (; born 27 December 1976) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He is the chairman of the League of Social Democrats (LSD), a pro-democracy radical social democratic party in Hong Kong. Biography Ng was born in Hong Ko ...

, the vice-chairman of the

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliame ...

, outside

Mong Kok Police Station Mong may refer to: People *A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community * Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator *Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary *Mong ...

regarding the progress of the Umbrella Movement. On 20 August 2015, Cheng was convicted of obstructing bailiff officers from clearing occupied roads in Mong Kok on 26 November 2014, and sentenced to 21 days' detention. On 20 November 2019, Cheng was arrested by Hong Kong police when he tried to escape from the

siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University The siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University occurred during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests on the campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The event was preceded by a similar conflict at the Chinese University of Ho ...

. He was eventually convicted for taking part in a riot, and sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison on 11 February 2023.

Disqualification in 2020 Legco election

Five weeks ahead of the (subsequently postponed) 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election, on 30 July 2020, as Cheng preparted to stand, the government stated that he was among a dozen pro-democracy candidates whose nominations were 'invalid', under an opaque process in which, nominally, civil servants –

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...

s – assess whether, for instance, a candidate had objected to the enactment of the national security law, or was sincere in statements made disavowing separatism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Alvin 1988 births Living people 2014 Hong Kong protests Hong Kong activists Hong Kong localists Queensland University of Technology alumni

Political career

Disqualification in 2020 Legco election

See also

References