The Alliance for Peace and Democracy (, formerly , literally: "The Protect-Universal Suffrage and Anti-Occupy Central Alliance") is a pro-Beijing political group based in Hong Kong. It was founded on 3 July 2014 by members of the pro-Beijing alliance including 40 pro-Beijing groups and scholars, many of whom are also members of the pro-Beijing group Silent Majority for Hong Kong, and was backed by the pro-Beijing Parties Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and The New People's Party. The Alliance was established to counter the Occupy Central movement, and it received widespread media attention when it launched a month-long signature campaign for people who oppose the Occupy Central Movement, which lasted from 19 July to 17 August 2014. The campaign claimed it had collected over a million signatures supporting the campaign, although questions were raised over credibility of the number of signatures collected. Despite the Alliance's efforts, the Occupy Central movement commenced officially on 27 September 2014, giving rise to the 2014 Hong Kong protests which was severely criticised by the Alliance. The Alliance also admitted that they underestimated the impact of the movement. The Alliance subsequently launched a second signature campaign after the commencement of the Occupy Central movement, demanding protesters to "free our roads" and to "restore law and order". It lasted from 25 October 2014 to 2 November 2014. A third signature campaign was held by the alliance after the Occupy Central movement from 9 May 2015 to 17 May 2015, amassing support for the 2014–15 Hong Kong electoral reform. First Signature campaign On 19 July 2014, the Alliance launched a signature campaign for "people who support democracy and universal suffrage, but oppose violence and the Occupy Central Movement" (). According to the Alliance's spokesman Robert Chow, the Alliance aims to collect at least 800,000 signature, likely an attempt to top the nearly 790,000 votes cast in Occupy Central's unofficial referendum held in June 2014. On 2 August 2014, the Alliance further launched an online platform to collect signatures from people who oppose Occupy Central's campaign. The authority official endorsements include chief executive CY Leung and other top Hong Kong officials, including Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam, Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So and Secretary for Development Paul Chan.