Hongkongers have been protesting since early 2019 against a proposed extradition bill, which could see fugitives whisked away to the mainland to be trialled in Communist-controlled courts. This is a retrospective look at the major events that happened that year.
Scroll down for the full script.
(Aired on ViuTVSix on 4 January 2020)
Full Script:
For two weeks in November, it had looked like it would be a fight to the end at university campuses.
Protesters at Chinese University, and at PolyU, clashed with police in a hail of petrol bombs, arrows and tear gas.
Hundreds were stuck inside the PolyU campus for days - like this 15-year-old protester, scared of what might happen if they tried to leave.
Exhausted and hopeless, he wrote a farewell letter to his loved ones.
(Voxpop)
“I don’t want to be a prisoner of war. I wrote to tell my family to take care of themselves and to forget about me.”
Ultimately, the thousands that had bunkered down here either were arrested or fled.
But what turned the mild mannered students to violence was a belief that it was their only option to defend their freedoms.
(Voxpop)
“This is the fight of a whole generation, it is a fight that will determine whether our idea, whether our ideal way of living, whether the Hong Kong we loved, we upheld for so long, we cherished for so long, could stay this way.”
Things had begun differently.
Peaceful marches held early June opposed plans to change Hong Kong’s extradition law.
Those would have allowed citizens to be deported to the mainland, and face trials in Communist Party-controlled courts.
But on June 12 - rounds of tear gas, and a sharp escalation.
Days after, the city saw its biggest protest ever, said to involve 2 million people. And even when the extradition bill was suspended, the conflicts continued to grow.
The Legislative Council became a target on July 1. Activists smashed their way inside the building, ripping apart copies of the Basic Law.
Later that month, protesters defaced the Chinese national emblem at the Liaison Office. It was an act that touched a nerve with Beijing.
(Soundbite, GENG SHUANG, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman)
“Some radical protesters’ behaviour tested the limits of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and we cannot tolerate that.”
On the same night, public confidence in the police was further shaken.
Suspected pro-Beijing gangs charged the Yuen Long MTR station and attacked people at random. Lawmaker Junius Ho said the attackers were “ordinary people” defending their homes from outsiders.
It took nearly 40 minutes for police to show up. “39 minutes,” the police argued.
Some officers were caught patting suspected assailants on the back.
(Voxpop)
“We are against the violence of the Hong Kong police, and the cooperation between them and the gangs, the Yuen Long local gangs. We don’t accept the cooperation between them, and we are on fired now.”
Anger at police increased, and violence spiralled, as police themselves were accused of brutality.
On the day China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule, an officer fired the first live round at a protester, wounding a secondary school student.
People also criticised the force for firing more than 16,000 tear gas rounds over the past six months - many in residential areas, and some of which made its way into people’s homes.
But Hongkongers have also been turning on each other.
People and shops deemed unsympathetic to protesters have been attacked.
And the police said they’re left with no choice.
(Soundbite, KWOK KA-CHUENG, Chief Superintendent, Police Public Relations Branch)
“These rioters are standing against every law abiding citizen in Hong Kong. They are a threat to our freedom, safety and livelihood. If we continue to let this black terror go on, the whole society will soon enter a recession.”
The Chief Executive has repeatedly called on the public to sever ties with radical protesters.
(Soundbite, CARRIE LAM, Hong Kong Chief Executive)
“Society must condemn these widespread violent acts. I urge people to see that the true nature of these protesters’ actions is to destroy Hong Kong and put it on a path of no return.”
Pro-Beijing supporters said the protests were driven by foreign agents. Others, though, pointed fingers at Beijing.
All these pressures have piled up into a major, invisible, concern - Hongkongers mental health.
A survey released in October by the Mental Health Month Organising Committee said people were struggling the most in eight years.
A key reason why the government has struggled to deal with the unrest is that there are no leaders.
Whereas the Occupy Movement was led by the liked of Joshua Wong, this movement has used the internet to collectively plan its moves, according to its so-called “be water” principle.
(Soundbite, JOSHUA WONG, Pro-democracy activist)
“They use Telegram, social media, online forum to have certain decision making.”
The scale of support for protesters also seemed to catch the establishment off-guard. The landslide win for the pro-democracy side in the December local-level elections was widely seen as a vote of no confidence in Lam’s government.
As Hong Kong now looks to a new year, it’s still confronting a problem it’s had for some time.
It’s people feel the rights and freedoms they fought for in 2019 are still under threat. And the governments here and in Beijing haven’t convinced them otherwise.
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