Ice to meet you.

July 21st, 2019

– Location: Hong Kong Island –

The protest started at 3pm, with approximately 430,000 citizens cheering for each other under the boiling heat, as well as chanting the 5 demands in hopes that the Government would finally respond to their requests.

By nightfall, most of the protesters had left, but some stayed behind to surround the Hong Kong-China Liaison Office, in which they quickly retreated after the police had asked them to. The police then surrounded them at an intersection and began to charge towards the protesters and members of the press with batons and other weapons in hand. This sent people into mass frenzy and the police continued despite citizens crying out that they were leaving but it would take some time as there were disabled and elderly people at the scene. 

Later on in the night, there were still some protesters who decided to stay and peacefully occupy the area to demonstrate their discontent towards the government. However, the police became impatient and employed tear gas bombs and rubber bullet guns to attack the protesters.

(Photos courtesy of Apple Media)

– Location: Yuen Long –

At the same time that this is occurring, a tragic and disgraceful event was happening on the opposite side of Hong Kong. 

In a suburban area called Yuen Long, citizens who were returning home from the protest, wearing black, were being attacked on the streets by gangsters, who wore white. This began at roughly 8pm, but by around 10:30pm, this escalated as hundreds of gangsters stormed the train station and began to beat unarmed civilians inside with bamboo sticks. Some of these victims were completely unrelated and were not even wearing black, including a pregnant woman, elderly and members of the press. Journalists were video taped live, screaming as they were being beaten and the worst thing is:

The police had been informed but were nowhere to be found.

Multiple eye witnesses, victims and allegedly the train company themselves contacted the police, but many were disconnected or put on hold. The Yuen Long district police station also closed its gates, preventing anyone from seeking help. 

At about 11pm, the gang members hijacked a train and began to hit civilians who were trapped inside. When they were done, they finally left the station and minutes after, the police arrived. Conveniently, too late. As a reference, the distance from the police station to the train station is a 6 minute drive, and an 18 minute walk, yet it took them an hour to respond.

Here are some videos/photos that show exactly how bad it was (warning: blood and violence):

Journalist with blood all over his face and body

Journalist filming a civilian being attacked before being beaten to the ground themselves

Civilians being attacked inside the train and the station

Civilians crouching in fear as they are being attacked inside the train

Because the police failed to catch them, they are now roaming free and attacking different parts of suburban Hong Kong, such as Tuen Mun and Tai Po. Their motives are unconfirmed but netizens theorise that they are siding with the government to invoke fear into the public to discourage them from attending future protests.

(Photos courtesy of Apple Media and The Stand News)

And why am I talking about this? Why should you care?

Frankly, because we’re scared. Things are escalating beyond our control and I can only foresee more chaos in the coming weeks as the government continues to ignore public opinion and the protests continue. The society has never been this divided. We have never witnessed this much violence on the streets. But the question here remains:

Where were the police when their people needed them? When will they be held accountable for their excessive force against peaceful protesters, and their utter ignorance towards violent gangsters? When will we be able to feel safe and at home again?

I used to be so proud to say that Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world. Now, I’m not so sure I can anymore. And it’s such a shame because it is so, so beautiful.

This is an SOS message from HK.

HK is currently in a humilitarian crisis as the pro-government mercenaries are attacking local protesters, reporters, even innocent civilians in various districts. Yet the HK police purposely not responding nor defending attacked citizens.

It breaks my heart to see this happen to my city, but it’s a story that we must tell, before it’s too late

What is happening and why does it matter?

Some of you have not have even heard of this dot-on-the-map city, but it’s home to 7 million people, including myself, and we’re faced with yet again, another violation of democracy from our very own government.

Hong Kong is known as a special administrative region, ruled by Britain from 1841 to 1997, until it was ‘returned’ to China. At the time, Hong Kong had already established its own systems, including our own laws, economy and way of life. The Chinese government had promised us 50 years of autonomy to maintain our own judicial, executive and legislative systems, under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ regime. But now, just over 20 years after this so-called promise, the government is backing up on their words by amending the Extradition Law. 

By amending this Law, it permits the Chinese government to request the extradition of any Hong Kong citizens to China to face charges. This is the just the beginning of the violation of our rights to protest and our rights to democracy because anything seen as ‘a threat to national security’ can be deemed a crime, and we’ve already seen democratic political figures face charges from the Chinese government, only never to be seen again. If you’ve read 1984 by George Orwell, this is the live action movie. 

June 9, 2019 Protest

This past Sunday, over ONE MILLION people wearing white marched the streets of Hong Kong to peacefully protest against the Extradition Law, holding out red signs and yellow umbrellas, a nod to the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, another example of how our government had failed us and taken away our rights to choose our own Chief Executive (the highest ranking official of Hong Kong)

(Time-lapse of one part of the protest)

(Photos courtesy of Hong Kong Free Press)

This protest is one of the largest Hong Kong has ever seen, but despite the negative reactions from its citizens, the government refused to back down, showing yet again, just how much they disregard our opinions. They were adamant to follow through on their words to amend the law on June 12, 2019, and had even influenced our biggest television network, TVB, to only display the protestors in a negative light. 

June 12, 2019 Protest

This leads us to today. It’s now or never. After the extradition law, any acts of protest or anger towards the government can be seen as a crime against the country. If this law passes, Hong Kong is as good as dead. 

The protest began early this morning with crowds of people boycotting work and school to surround the Hong Kong government buildings to prevent government officials from entering to discuss and pass this law. 

It was a stand-off between police and unarmed citizens, and by the afternoon, it had escalated to a whole new level. Policemen have started using batons, pepper spray, tear gas bombs and water canons against protesters and even fired shots. Reports are saying that a citizen had been shot in the head in broad daylight. 

(Photos courtesy of HKFP and unidentifiable sources - please message me if you know the original publishers)

The fight for democracy is still ongoing, we still have thousands of people out on the streets right now, risking their lives to fight for their home. 

As I’m writing this, I can’t stop my tears. How did we get to this? What will it take for us to have our democracy back? How far do we have to go for our voices to be heard? How many more people have to get hurt or killed before the government realises we will not become pawns of the Chinese government. We are Hong Kongers and we will not relent. 

This act is not against the people of China, I assure you. it is against the government that has SUPPRESSED us for years and will continue to do so until change is made. 

My final message here is to all of you on Tumblr. I’ve seen you work miracles and I’m hoping you can do the same now. Share this with your followers, get this out there, we need international support now more than ever. If other countries can pressure the Chinese government and ours to stop the extradition law, we may have hope yet.