The Hong Kong Protests: How did we get here?
by Angela Ryan
This year, the Hong Kong protests have been all over the news. From news articles to social media, if you have access to the internet, the likelihood is, you’ve heard of them. These protests have slowly escalated over time, starting from peaceful marches and evolving to the violence that it has become today. But what caused them? Why are they happening? How did we get here?
The first piece of information that we need to cover is how Hong Kong is different from the rest of China. Hong Kong was a former British colony, handed back to China in 1997. Hong Kong is currently run under the “one country, two systems” national unification policy released in 1984. Simplified, it states that Hong Kong is free to run its economic, legal and political systems basically unchanged from before it was ceded to China, so Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy. Because of this autonomy, residents of Hong Kong have many more rights and privileges than those of the rest of China, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, open internet, independent courts and many more. This bill is set to expire 50 years after its implementation, in 2047.
So, what has China done to Hong Kong to ignite these protests? Recently, China has slowly been trying to gain more power and influence over Hong Kong than they currently have. Because of Hong Kong’s freedoms, they have a very vocal community of pro-democracy activists and political figures. One of the latest of these attempts to gain more power over Hong Kong was the extradition bill proposed in February of 2019. This legislation would allow people arrested in Hong Kong to be picked up and detained in mainland China, a country in which judges followed the orders of the communist party. The people of Hong Kong, a mostly autonomous city, didn’t like this. Residents of Hong Kong believed that this bill would target not just criminals but political activists and journalists as well, which didn’t sit well with the vocal community of Hong Kong. Many saw this extradition plan as an attempt to extinguish activists with differing opinions than that of the communist party.
And so, the protests began. In March of 2019, thousands of people protested in the streets of Hong Kong, marking the first in a long series. The Hong Kong government kept proposing amendments and changes to the bill in an attempt to calm the public, but people still weren’t happy. In each version, too much power would be taken from the people. On June 9th of 2019, over one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong to rally against the extradition bill and marched towards government headquarters, but to no avail. The bill still pressed onward. June 12, things began to get violent. Thousands of people attempted to protest this bill again, only a few days following the previous gathering, but this time they threw bricks, bottles, and umbrellas at police officers. These officers retaliated with tear gas, batons and pepper spray, which many people deemed as excessive and brutal. On June 15, the bill was finally suspended. However, this wasn’t enough. Simply suspending a bill wasn’t the same as dismissing it all together, it still held the possibility of reviving the bill at a later date. So once again, the people took to the streets to speak their minds. The combination of the suspension of the bill and the police brutality on June 12 rendered a turnout of over 2 million people on June 16 in the streets of Hong Kong marching in opposition to their government.
Between then and now, protests have evolved. Pro-government mobs have attacked protesters, leading to more protests in opposition of those attacks. Both the government and protesters have participated in activities that escalated the brutality of these protests from both parties. In September, the extradition bill was finally withdrawn for good, but protesters stated that it was “too little, too late.” Over this past year of protests, some protesters have often chanted “five demands, not one less.” One of these demands was the withdrawal of the extradition bill, but none of the four others have been met. They are as follows: For the protests not to be characterised as a “riot,” amnesty for arrested protesters, an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality, and implementation of complete universal suffrage. Many protesters have said that they will not stop marching until these demands are met. These protests have continued through the holidays, and will most likely continue further into the New Year.
People around the world have taken their stance on this issue and its various aspects. Issues like these are complicated, and it is up to each individual to make sure they educate themselves on each aspect the best they can. A simple internet search will provide millions of results on the subject, ranging from opinion pieces to helpful charts and graphs. I myself didn’t know how much I wasn’t aware of on this topic before I began my research for this article, so I urge you to take a quick look too.
Some useful articles:
Hong Kong vs. China: What’s the difference?
What is Hong Kong’s Extradition Bill?
Timeline: Key dates for Hong Kong extradition bill and protests
Six Months of Hong Kong Protests. How did we get here?
Hong Kong formally scraps extradition bill that sparked protests