The Beacon of Freedom and Democracy

U.S. Lawmakers Nominate Hong Kong Protesters For Nobel Peace Prize

By Russell Flannery

Protesters march on the streets against an extradition bill in Hong Kong on June 16, 2019. 

It isn’t easy to get politicians from the two main U.S. political parties to agree on much. 

One common area, however, is often U.S. policy toward China, and today a bipartisan group of American lawmakers released a letter nominating Hong Kong’s pro-democracy moment for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
The move comes at time when U.S.-China relations have been strained by trade and geopolitical tension, and as Beijing’s leaders are straining to control a coronavirus outbreak that has led to more than 400 deaths and 20,000 illnesses and threatens first-quarter economic growth (see related story here).

Representative James P. McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Representatives Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican, Thomas Suozzi, a New York Democrat, and Tom Malinowski, a New Jersey Democrat, as well as Senators Jeffrey Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, and Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, supported the nomination. 

They are all members of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
The full letter is below:

January 31, 2020

Berit Reiss-Andersen
Chair
Nobel Peace Prize Committee
NO-0255 Oslo
Norway

Dear Chair Reiss-Andersen and Members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee:

We, the undersigned members of the United States Congress, respectfully nominate the pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong to receive the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to protect Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights, and the rule of law as guaranteed in the Sino-British Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
The pro-democracy movement of Hong Kong has inspired the world as countless and often anonymous individuals risked their lives, their health, their jobs, and their education to support a better future for Hong Kong. 

They have demonstrated civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and democratic Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom.
In March 2019, a series of large-scale, pro-democracy protests began in Hong Kong in opposition to a proposed extradition bill that would have put anyone in Hong Kong at risk of extradition to mainland China, where arbitrary detention, lack of due process, torture, and other serious human rights abuses are well documented. 

The protest on June 16, 2019, included over two million participants out of a total population of approximately 7.5 million people living in Hong Kong, making it one of the largest mass protests in history.
The protesters represent a broad spectrum of Hong Kong society – students, children, retirees, women, teachers, flight attendants, bankers, lawyers, social workers, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, airport staff, migrant domestic workers, and civil servants. 

The entire city is engaged in a movement both unique and inspiring in its size, scope, and creativity. 

The protesters are savvy and have used peaceful and innovative methods of expression including art, music, lasers, projections on buildings, and joining hands across Hong Kong.
The pro-democracy movement made five reasonable demands of the Hong Kong government: 

1) withdraw the extradition bill; 

2) conduct an independent inquiry into the police violence; 

3) drop charges against all arrested protesters; 

4) retract the characterization of the June protests as “riots”; and 

5) the use of universal suffrage to elect the chief executive and legislative council members.
Instead of a pursuing political dialogue and negotiation, the Hong Kong government implemented a crackdown on peaceful protests and used excessive and unnecessary force in contravention of the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms for Law Enforcement Officers. 

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an investigation of these incidents. 

The U.S. and the U.K. have both suspended the sale of police and crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.
Numerous individuals and organizations have for decades pressed for greater freedoms in Hong Kong, and the current movement is no exception. 

The pro-democracy movement of the past year has been impressively organized and coherent, yet notably leaderless and flexible. 

For this reason, rather than highlighting an individual or single organization, we wish to nominate the peaceful Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. 

This prize would honor the millions of people in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination have inspired the world.
We deeply appreciated the Nobel Committee’s past willingness to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo in 2010. 

Liu Xiaobo’s unjust imprisonment and ultimately his death is a stark reminder of the sacrifices made by so many people in China who have dared to speak out for their human rights.
We hope that the Nobel Committee will continue to shine a light on those struggling for peace and human rights in China and we believe the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong is more than deserving of recognition this year.

Hong Kong protesters rally in support of minority Uighurs

Largely peaceful rally descended into chaos after protesters grabbed a Chinese flag and tried to burn it.
hwww.aljazeera.com
Hong Kong protesters held a rally in support of the Uighurs on Sunday.

Riot police in Hong Kong broke up a rally in support of China's Uighurs on Sunday -- with one officer drawing a pistol -- after the initially peaceful protest descended into chaos when protesters removed a Chinese flag from a nearby government building and tried to burn it.
Organisers stopped the flag being burned, but riot police swooped in with pepper spray, sparking anger from the crowd who threw water bottles.
One officer drew his gun and pointed it at the crowd, but did not fire.
At least two protesters were arrested.
Several hundred people joined the rally, with some holding signs emblazoned with the blue and white flag of the independence movement in China's northwestern colony of East Turkestan.
China has faced international condemnation for detaining an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in massive concentration camps.
The emergence of a huge surveillance and prison system that now blankets much of East Turkestan has been watched closely in Hong Kong, which has been convulsed by six months of huge and sometimes violent protests against Beijing's rule.
Pro-Uighur chants and flags have become commonplace in Hong Kong's marches, but Sunday's rally was the first to be specifically dedicated to Uighurs.
The crowd gathered in a square close to the city's harbourfront listening to speeches warning that the Chinese Communist Party's crackdown in East Turkestan could one day be replicated in Hong Kong.
"We shall not forget those who share a common goal with us, our struggle for freedom and democracy and the rage against the Chinese Communist Party," one speaker shouted through a loudspeaker to cheers.

'Control Freaks'
Many of those attending were waving the flag of East Turkestan, which has a white crescent moon on a blue background.

A man holds a flag during a rally to show support for Uighurs and their fight for human rights in Hong Kong. The characters read "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times." 

Others wore blue face masks displaying the East Turkestan flag.
People also carried flags for Tibet -- another restless region of China - and the self-ruled island of Taiwan that China claims as its own.
China runs Hong Kong on a "one country, two systems" model which allows the city key freedoms that are denied people on the authoritarian mainland.
The framework will end in 2047, 50 years after the handover.
Many people in Hong Kong fear an increasingly assertive China is already eroding those freedoms.
Many at Sunday's rally said they felt a mainland-style government was around the corner.
"The Chinese government are control freaks, they can't stand any opinions they disagree with," Katherine, a protester in her late twenties and a civil servant, told AFP before police moved in.
"In East Turkestan they are doing what they are doing because they have the power to do so. When they take over Hong Kong they will do the same," she added.
China cracked down on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities after a series of deadly attacks in the area.
It bristles at any criticism of its policies in East Turkestan.

Self-Defence vs. State Terrorism

Why We Should Not Condemn Violence by the Hong Kong Protesters
By Chu Chia-An
P
Some people think that if we hold the Hong Kong police to account in using violence, we must also place the same standards on the use of violence by the protesters.

I oppose this argument, and my reasoning is as follows: Saying “both sides should be equally condemned” unfairly favors the police, and ignores the fact that ultimate responsibility for the violence lies at the feet of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.
During the protests, the Hong Kong police have used batons, pistols, and tear gas to beat back the crowds. 

According to later rumors, even a sonic weapon would be deployed. 

On the internet, you can see video clips of police firing guns, as well as reports confirming that Hongkongers have been severely injured in these shootings. 

One youth fell from a building to his death upon being attacked by police, and other reports have surfaced accusing the Hong Kong police of sexually abusing and beating detainees.
A number of mysterious deaths have surfaced in Hong Kong over the past few months in which the corpses were suspiciously found in the water, unclothed, or without identity. 

Hong Kong government officials have acknowledged that the rate of suicides and discoveries of dead bodies has increased. 

At press conferences, the authorities have acknowledged that police officers had impersonated protesters, and officers who left the force said that police behavior had gotten out of control.
On the other side, the protesters have thrown bricks and Molotov cocktails at the police. 

Over the last few days, protesters at some universities in Hong Kong have dismantled public facilities to make roadblocks, and set fires to impede the advance of police. 

According to reports, a policeman was hit in the leg by an arrow fired by a protester, and others had their masks hit by steel pellets.
Some people think that while the police have caused injuries and abused their power to commit violence, the protesters have also engaged in violent acts such as damaging public facilities, throwing bricks, and setting fires, so if one agrees that the former should be condemned, the latter must also be held responsible.
I don’t see things this way. 

I think there are a number of factors that make it easy for us to overestimate the seriousness of violence by protesters, as well as factors that place most responsibility for the violence on the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.

Real violence doesn’t need to look “violent”
Many times, some people appear very violent precisely because they were not all that violent.
When the protesters set fires to prevent police from advancing, the damage pales in comparison to the persistent effects on the human body and general environment caused by tear gas grenades fired by the police. 

The average person, however, will consider setting fire to be an act of violence, and shooting tear gas to be stopping violence. 

On the one hand, the officers’ identity as police helps to legitimize their violence; on the other, the police have tear gas grenades to use, and don’t have to fashion Molotov cocktails. 

The irony is clear: protesters lack sophisticated equipment for carrying out violence, so in being forced to resort to Stone Age technology, their methods of resistance seem more violent.
By the same token, the protesters seem violent and chaotic when they tear down fences to make roadblocks. 

However, if ready-made roadblocks and gabions like the ones used by the police were available to the protesters, who would want to tear down fences?
To reiterate, those who are well equipped can choose to perform violence in a “civilized” way that doesn’t appear violent. 

If a Hong Kong policeman asks you nicely to “go with me” while carrying a gun in his hand, will you go with him or not? 

In a civilized society with established rules, it is easy to treat “system violence” that often occurs as not being violence, which leaves us powerless when those in power begin to abuse the rules.
Finally, the people who are supported by the police and government authorities can commit violent acts without anyone seeing them do it at all. 

Reviewing the recent news, look at how the detained Hongkongers were abused and sexually assaulted by the police. 

If dismantling fences and throwing Molotov cocktails can keep people I know from being arrested by the Hong Kong police, I would go for it too.
Human judgment does not exist in a vacuum, but is influenced by culture and conceptions. 

Those who hold political power can not only influence what you see, but also how you understand what you see. 

For this reason, I hold the view that criticizing the protesters for their violence, or highlighting the need to “condemn violence committed by both protesters as well as police” are statements that ignore the elephant in the room.
If violence were avoidable, who would want it?
In condemning violence, one question to ask is whether the actor has non-violent options available. As concerns the Hong Kong situation, we may consider the following: which side has the greater margin of “options other than violence” with which to resolve the problems?
When compared with the protesters, the answer is the Hong Kong government. 

Had the Hong Kong Government adhered to the “one country, two systems” promise and democracy, Hong Kong people would have no need to take to the streets in the first place.
When compared with the Hong Kong government and the protesters, the answer becomes the Chinese government. 

Had the Chinese government not forced everyone to accept its authoritarian rule, the Hong Kong government would not find itself under such pressure to violate the spirit of democracy, and neither would the people of Hong Kong need to protest.
The Hongkongers did not choose violence from the beginning, with the 2014 Umbrella Revolution being a typical case of non-violent protest. 

However, judging from the history of Chinese rule, Hong Kong may become the next East Turkestan if the Hongkongers do not put up strong resistance. 

Regardless of whether the object of comparison is the Hong Kong police and government, or the Chinese government, the Hong Kong protesters don’t have any meaningful options apart from violent resistance, unless you consider submitting yourself to abuse, surveillance, and repression to be a meaningful course of action.
There is not much point in criticizing the Hong Kong protesters for their violence. 

If anyone should take responsibility for the violence, it is China. 

The Chinese government hardly provides for the security and livelihood of its own people, yet always wants to rule over others. 

This is the source of all violence in the Hong Kong protests.

Freedom Fighter

A Hong Kong protester on why he won’t surrender to police
By ALICE FUNG

In this image made from video, a frontline protester. One of the last remaining protesters on the campus of Polytechnic University who goes by the name Hei speaks to the Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, in Hong Kong. A small band of anti-government protesters, their numbers diminished by surrenders and failed escape attempts, remained holed up at a Hong Kong university early Wednesday as they braced for the endgame in a police siege of the campus. 

A woman is attended to by medics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. Hong Kong schools have reopened after a six-day shutdown but students were facing transit disruptions as the last protesters remained holed up on a university campus.

HONG KONG — Pale and thin, a teenager wandered the nearly deserted campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. 

He hugged his body with his arms, whether because of the chill in the air or gnawing worry he felt was unclear.
Only a handful of protesters remain at “Poly U,” which hundreds occupied for several days, fighting pitched battles with police in the surrounding streets. 

Now, authorities have cut off the campus and are arresting anyone who comes out.
The teen, who wouldn’t give his exact age but said he is under 18, is one of the holdouts. 

He figured he had slept about 10 hours in total since arriving at the campus about five days earlier. He said he had eaten only two biscuits all day because his mind was too distracted, obsessed with one thought: How am I going to get out?
He arrived at Polytechnic late last week, heeding a call for support from protesters who were occupying five major universities in Hong Kong. 

It was Thursday or Friday — the days and nights have become such a blur that he kept asking an interviewer what day it currently was.
Like many of the protesters, he spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing arrest, and would only appear on camera with his face covered.
The campus takeovers were the latest escalation in an anti-government movement that has divided the city for more than five months. 

The protesters’ demands include fully democratic elections and an investigation into police brutality in cracking down on the demonstrations.
In the mind of all Hongkongers, the police have become as big a problem as the government.
Riot officers began raining tear gas on their defense line outside the university on Saturday night, before battering them repeatedly with water cannons and tear gas on Sunday afternoon.
The teen jumped into the fray. 

He joined others wielding umbrellas — they call them “shields” — and taking the full brunt of the often pepper-spray-laced bursts of water.
Three times he faced the barrages, dashing inside the campus stronghold after each attack to wash off the stinging water, change his clothes and return for the next round.
“I was at the very front,” he said. 

“It hit me straight on and I was soaked. If I hadn’t been wearing a jacket, my whole body would have felt like it was burning. Just my lower body really stung, and the water also got all over my face and into my eyes.”
It’s one of the roles of the front-line protesters, those who engage the police directly. 

Wearing gas masks, they throw homemade gasoline bombs and snuff out tear gas cannisters to try to keep the police at bay.
He acknowledges that others are likely see their actions as aggressive but he says their role is important because the government didn’t back down when hundreds of thousands of people peacefully marched in the streets in the summer.

“If it was just the peaceful protests, it wouldn’t succeed,” he said. 

“Already back in June, we saw that it was just peaceful protests, and the government wouldn’t listen.”By Sunday evening, the police had begun to approach from all directions, setting up a cordon around the area. 

They warned that everyone inside would be subject to arrest.
Some protesters tried escaping on Monday and Tuesday; most were caught or repelled. 

The government offered to let those under 18 leave without facing immediate arrest, though their identification information would be taken down and they could be charged later.
Worried family members reached out to their children. 

The teen got WhatsApp messages from his parents, his stepmother and others asking him to give up. Police allowed religious leaders onto the campus to make similar pleas.
Others turned themselves in. 

The teenager wasn’t swayed. 

He said he prefers to fight with all the strength he has. 

Surrendering would show that he had given up the fight and agrees with the government and the police, he said.
“Even if you get arrested or die, you know that you’ve tried your best and you’ve got no regrets,” he said.
And so he waits, as the hours turn into days, with less and less company around him.

Economic War

Hong Kong Protesters Attack Shops Affiliated with Communist China Enterprises

Chinese companies seen as symbols of Beijing evil

By Bruce Einhorn and Shirley Zhao

The black-clad protesters pushing back against China’s influence in Hong Kong aren’t just focusing on Carrie Lam and the police. 

They’re also targeting mainland-based brands such as Bank of China Ltd., China Mobile Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. with fire bombs, metal bars and spray paint.
A walk down the primary route used by Hong Kong’s anti-government marchers shows how big a chunk of the city China owns. 

Mainland-affiliated supermarkets, drugstores, hotels, Pacific Coffee stores and McDonald’s outlets -- both franchises are operated by state-owned firms -- pepper the vicinity of skyscraper-lined Hennessy Road, the downtown artery connecting the Causeway Bay shopping district with government headquarters in Admiralty. 

Some of the businesses also occupy property owned by Chinese developers.

Protesters hold placards featuring images of Carrie Lam inside a Pacific Coffee store, June 9.

These outposts of Xi Jinping’s government expanded their operations after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, adding heft to Beijing’s political goal of integrating the semi-autonomous territory with the motherland. 

Their deepening presence implies that Hong Kong soon will become just another Chinese city, deprived of the autonomy former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping guaranteed until 2047.
“Mainland Chinese companies are forming a group of entities which is both economically and politically influential,” said Heidi Wang-Kaeding, who’s done research on mainland investment in Hong Kong and now teaches international relations at Keele University in Staffordshire, England. “That’s why this is shaking the local interest very much.”
Hong Kong police said Monday a radio-controlled improvised explosive device was detonated near a police car on Sunday evening, the first time the use of such a device has been reported during months of unrest.
The use of explosives marks a significant escalation in pro-democracy protests that started out peacefully in June, with hundreds of thousands of residents marching in the streets in opposition to a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
In recent weeks, protesters have set fires near police stations, hurled makeshift petrol bombs at riot police, and bashed in glass kiosks at train stations and storefronts tied to mainland Chinese businesses.
As Chinese Communist Party leaders focus on solidifying control over the rebellious city, companies taking direction from the state likely will play an even bigger role in Hong Kong’s $363 billion economy. 

The city is sinking into a recession amid the riots, and Lam, the chief executive, may propose remedies during her annual policy address on Wednesday.
In the past decade, the total amount of loans given by the Hong Kong-based unit of state-owned Bank of China in the special administrative region has more than doubled to $175 billion, and so have deposits to $257 billion.
China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers, is among the four operators in the city, having cemented its position since buying a local provider more than a decade ago to gain entry into the market.
Mainland-based developers such as Poly Property Group Co. and China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd. successfully bid for 11% of the land for sale last year in the world’s most-expensive real estate market, compared with about 5% in 2013. 

They bought almost 60% of residential land sold by the local government in the first six months of this year.

A targeted China Mobile Ltd. store in Causeway Bay on Oct. 4.

In one high-profile deal, state-owned Poly Property and China Resources Land Ltd. successfully bid HK$12.9 billion ($1.6 billion) in June for a 9,500-square-meter parcel at Kai Tak, the former airport in the Kowloon district.
Beijing-based Citic Ltd., a state-owned conglomerate, is part of a consortium that runs McDonald’s outlets in the city, and unit Dah Chong Hong Holdings operates car dealerships and Food Mart stores.
With forays into retail, telecommunications and property development, mainland-based companies are also altering the city’s traditional business landscape. 

Homegrown tycoons such as Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau Kee, who built their empires by forging close ties with authorities in Beijing, may see that influence erode. 

Li, for instance, saw the writing on the wall some time ago and has been steadily reducing exposure to his home base.
Over time, the economic balance of power will tilt more in favor of state enterprises and away from the local billionaires, said Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing member of Hong Kong’s legislature and a deputy to China’s National People’s Congress.
“It will be very difficult for Hong Kong Chinese companies to fight mainland Chinese companies,” he said. 

“They are capital-rich and powerful.”

Graffiti on a shuttered McDonald’s Corp. store on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai on Oct. 7.

But it isn’t just state-owned companies that are building a bigger presence in Hong Kong. 

In 2015, billionaire Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to buy the South China Morning Post newspaper and related assets for HK$2.06 billion. 

Prominent Chinese smart-phone makers such as Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi and electronics retailer Suning have retail stores in the city.
Mainland-based companies with consumer-facing businesses have been particular targets in the latest phase of the four-month-long protests, which were sparked by opposition to a proposed law allowing extraditions to China.
Bank of China branches and ATMs have been firebombed, including this past weekend and on the Oct. 1 anniversary of Communist Party rule in the mainland. 

Huawei and Lenovo stores also were ransacked during the weekend at a mall in suburban Sha Tin.

Bank of China’s ATMs in Wan Chai on Oct. 5.

At least two China Mobile stores were attacked Oct. 1 and 2, and a Xiaomi outlet had anti-China graffiti spray-painted on its walls. 

The local unit of China Construction Bank, which has more than 50 locations, suspended service at two branches because of protest-related damage, including smashed glass doors.
At least one local-run business has lost its immunity. 

Maxim’s Caterers Ltd., which operates bakeries and some Starbucks outlets, is seeing stores vandalized after the founder’s daughter called the protests “riots” and supported the Hong Kong government in comments at the U.N. Human Rights Council last month.
Maxim’s tried to distance itself from the comments and a spokeswoman said the group has never taken any political stance. 

Representatives for China Resources, Citic, the local units of Bank of China and China Construction Bank didn’t respond to requests seeking comments, while a spokesperson for China Mobile said the carrier is focusing on resuming services at the damaged stores.
“Anything with a star on it is vulnerable,” Gavin Greenwood, an analyst with A2 Global Risk, a Hong Kong-based political-risk consultancy, said of mainland-affiliated businesses. 

He was referring to the Chinese flag.
“They are extremely soft targets.”

Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act

Hong Kong protesters plead for American protection as police crackdown intensifies

By Shibani Mahtani

Anti-government demonstrators hold U.S. flags as they march in protest against the invocation of the emergency laws in Hong Kong, China, October 14, 2019. 

HONG KONG — Protesters gathered in the tens of thousands in central Hong Kong on Monday night, pleading with American lawmakers for the second time to pass legislation that supports the territory’s democratic aspirations and punishes those who try to curtail it.
The demonstration, the first approved by authorities since the imposition of an anti-mask ban at all public gatherings, was marked by the sense of anguish that has gripped the movement after months of protesting. 

Instead of offering any further concessions, the government has instead expanded police powers and imposed more restrictions.
As the crackdown on protests intensifies — with the arrest of more than 2,500, including 201 arrested in smaller-scale protests over the weekend — some see foreign pressure as the best hope for securing a democratic future for Hong Kong.
“Our citizens do not have any kind of power to fight against the government,” said Crystal Yeung, 23, standing among thousands of protesters spilling out onto roads from a small square that couldn’t contain the rally. 

“We are relying on the U.S. to punish to those who are trying to breach the Hong Kong law.”
Protesters are specifically hoping for the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, a piece of legislation that has broad bipartisan support. 

The bill, which will require the annual review of the special treatment afforded by Washington to Hong Kong and allow sanctions on those found to be “suppressing basic freedoms,” was fast-tracked through the House and could be discussed as soon as this week. 

In the Senate, it remains in committee.
A large demonstration was first held in September in support of the bill, but protest organizers want to keep the pressure on as it makes it way through the congressional process.
“The bill is necessary in order to give pressure on Chinese and Hong Kong government,” said Ventus Lau, one of the organizers of Monday’s demonstration. 

“We have to do everything possible to push for a quick passing of the law.”
The international push is among several strategies employed by protesters as the Hong Kong government digs in their heels in against any further concession to the movement. 

Protests began in June over a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China, but have since swelled into a sustained effort at securing direct elections for Hong Kong and against increasingly harsh police tactics. 

Communities are divided, businesses are suffering and violence is increasing as the dissent drags on.
Several Republican senators have recently visited Hong Kong, including Ted Cruz (R.-Tex) and Josh Hawley (R.-Mo) to observe the protests and speak to pro-democracy activists. 

Both are sponsors of the Human Rights and Democracy Act.

Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley listens to questions from members of the media at a hotel in Hong Kong on Oct. 14, 2019.

The bill “has come up in every single meeting” with pro-democracy activists in the city, said Hawley, speaking in Hong Kong to a small group of reporters. 

He said the legislation could be voted on in the House as early as this week. 

“It is obviously a very felt and urgent concern here in the city, and rightly so.”
Prominent activist Joshua Wong, speaking at the rally, noted that when the bill was first floated, only a handful backed it. 

Today, more than 60 lawmakers have supported the legislation.
“We owe it all to the blood and sweat spared by the front-line protesters and the peaceful protesters,” Wong said, before leading the group into a cheer of “Pass the act!” 

Chants were so loud they could be heard miles from the rally’s gathering point. 

Speaking Sunday in Nepal, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping said any attempt “to split China in any part of the country will end in “crushed bodies and shattered bones.”

Trump has appeared to change his tone on Hong Kong several times in recent months.

At the United Nations, he made strong comments in defense of the city’s promised autonomy, saying the world “fully expects” Beijing will protect “Hong Kong’s freedom, legal system and democratic ways of life.”
Speaking to reporters last week after a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, however, Trump said the situation in Hong Kong is “going to take care of itself” and has “de-escalated”.
Hawley, the congressman, said the situation in Hong Kong is an “urgent, pressing concern” and would share his experiences with Trump.
On Sunday, protests broke out in several areas of the city, a new tactic that sought to scatter the police force, allow demonstrators to stick to local neighborhoods they are most familiar with and avoid transit shutdowns. 

Numbers however were much smaller than in past rallies, and police were able to make a large number of arrests compared to the size of the demonstrating crowd.
Protester violence has also increased, leaving 12 officers wounded, including one who was cut in the back of his neck by a sharp object. 

What appeared to be a homemade bomb was set off near a police car, and a police station in Mongkok was hit by over a dozen petrol bombs.
Police said 201 protesters between the ages of 14 to 62 were arrested between Friday to Sunday.

Anti-government demonstrator holds a placard as they march in protest against the invocation of the emergency laws in Hong Kong, China, Oct. 14, 2019. 

Yeung, who was attending the rally with her boyfriend, added that even without any American action on the bill, Hong Kong’s fight will go on. 

Several more rallies are planned over the coming weeks.
“Hong Kong people must rely on our own power, our unity to fight against the government,” she said. 

“We will keep fighting anyway”

Closeted communist: Beijing represses Hong Kong with active Tim Cook's help

Apple bans an app because Hong Kong protesters use it to avoid the murderous, out of control police

https://boingboing.net

Hkmap Live is a crowdsourced app that uses reports from a Telegram group to track the locations of protesters, police, and traffic, as well as the use of antipersonnel weapons like tear gas, mass arrests of people wearing t-shirts associated with the protest movement, and mass transit closures in proximity to demonstrations (it's a bit like Sukey, the British anti-kettling app).
The escalation of indiscriminate violence by Hong Kong's police has driven mainstream opposition to the Chinese state and the Hong Kong authorities. 

The protests continue to grow, the police continue to attack families, elderly people, bystanders, and the main body of protesters, with no mercy or quarter -- including the on-camera, point-blank shooting of an unarmed, nonviolent protester. 

In this context, Hkmap isn't just a way for protesters to evade police, it's a survival lifeline for innocent people facing an occupying army of sadistic armed thugs.
But Iphone owners in Hong Kong can't access the Hkmap Live app anymore. 

Apple has removed it from the App Store, telling the app's creators that "Your app contains content - or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity - that is not legal ... Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement."
This isn't the first time that Apple has used its monopoly over which apps can be used on Ios devices to help the Chinese state abuse human rights: in May 2018, the company removed all working VPNs from the App Store, leaving only compromised ones that the Chinese state could surveil.
Apple is America's largest tech company, and its corporate communications have presented the company as an ethical alternative to "surveillance" companies like Google, but while Apple doesn't spy on you to advertise to you, it certainly is willing to facilitate state spying on its customers for the purpose of abetting their arbitrary arrest, torture, and executions.
Moreover, Apple often describes its locked-down App Store model -- which uses technical countermeasures and legal threats to prevent its customers from installing apps that it hasn't approved -- as a way of defending its users' security from unethical apps (this was a claim that was repeatedly raised last year when Apple led an industry coalition that defeated 20 state-level Right to Repair bills).
But Apple's absolute control over the App Store means that when a state suborns the company to serve as part of its anti-democratic enforcement system, users are corralled in its walled garden where they are easy pickings for murderous authoritarians and their hired killers.
Moreover, this outcome is entirely predictable: when you design your device so that users can't override your decisions, you practically beg authoritarian governments to order you to make decisions that help them control their citizens.

HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖@hkmaplive
"Your app contains content - or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity - that is not legal ... Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement."@Apple assume our user are lawbreakers and therefore evading law enforcement, which is clearly not the case.
164
8:58 PM - Oct 1, 2019


Pinboard@Pinboard
It appears that Apple has rejected an app that warns Hong Kongers about police activity. The Hong Kong police force shot a high schooler in the chest yesterday and put seventy people, from 11 to 75, in the hospital. That app saves lives in Hong Kong. Let me tweet about it a bit https://twitter.com/hkmaplive/status/1179108329240424448 …
HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖@hkmaplive
"Your app contains content - or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity - that is not legal ... Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement."@Apple assume our user are lawbreakers and therefore evading law enforcement, which is clearly not the case.
751
5:14 AM - Oct 2, 2019

Chinazism

UK won't look the other way when Hong Kong protesters beaten: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
Reuters

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaks during the Conservative Party in Manchester, Britain, September 29, 2019.

MANCHESTER, England -- Britain will not ignore the treatment of protesters in Hong Kong when they are beaten indiscriminately, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.
Sunday saw some of the most widespread and violent clashes in more than three months of anti-government unrest, with protesters angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong.
“We won’t look the other way, when the people of Hong Kong are beaten indiscriminately on commuter trains for exercising the right to peaceful protest,” Raab told the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference.

Chinazism

How Hong Kong protesters are defending their use of Chinazi

By Mary Hui

A new crop of symbols has emerged in Hong Kong’s protests in recent weeks: swastikas and the term “Chinazi.”
At a demonstration earlier this month, when protesters marched to the US consulate to urge Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, a red flag with yellow stars arranged in the shape of a swastika was hung from a bridge, as the flags of Hong Kong and China fluttered overhead.

The Chinazi flag flying over a large crowd of protesters.

At another major march a week later (Sep. 15), one of the most widely seen posters was that of the “Chinazi” flag. 

Local pro-democracy party People Power also set up a small stage at the start of the march, putting up a banner that cast chief executive Carrie Lam as an unmistakable Hitler, giving her a the label “Butcher Carrie” against a backdrop of yellow swastikas.


Mary Hui
✔@maryhui
· Sep 15, 2019
This guy's writing calligraphy. He just wrote one that says 良知—conscience. The flyers are free to take.



Mary Hui
✔@maryhui
Banner by People Power, the pro-democracy coalition chaired by lawmaker Ray Chan.

23
9:15 AM - Sep 15, 2019

And this Sunday (Sep. 29)—coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the divvying up of occupied Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union—Hong Kongers are scheduled to host a large protest, alternately dubbed the “Global Anti-Totalitarianism March” and the “Global Anti-Chinazi March,” alongside dozens of cities around the world. 

Ahead of the march, organizers have shared a series of graphics on the event’s Telegram channel to explain the term “Chinazi,” drawing comparisons between, for example, the Holocaust’s concentration camps and China’s concentration camps in East Turkestan.
Making comparisons to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust has long been a sensitive issue. 

Adolf Hitler and the Nazis committed one of the worst atrocities ever in human history, orchestrating a state-sponsored genocide that led to the murder of millions of Jews.

Comparing China to Nazi Germany in fact predates Hong Kong’s protests, and traces its roots back to anti-China protests in Hanoi and Tokyo in 2011 and 2012.

First use of the term "Chinazi": Vietnamese protesters showed a banner depicting the late Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler to compare China to the Nazis during an anti-China rally in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Aug. 21, 2011. 

Japanese people condemned Chinazism at a rally in Tokyo in September 2012.

Writing in the Times of Israel newspaper, Deborah Fripp, president of the Teach the Shoah Foundation, noted that “a well-placed comparison to the Holocaust can be a call-to-action, can help to highlight bias and create change.”
In August, for example, an Australian lawmaker compared the West’s approach to China to France’s failure to hold back Nazi Germany. 

Hong Kong protesters see the Nazi comparisons as necessary. 

One protester who identified himself as Johnson, and who is an administrator in the public Telegram group for Sunday’s “anti-Chinazi march” said in an interview conducted over the messaging app that he understood concerns over the use of the term “Chinazi,” but that “the atrocities committed by the [Chinese Communist Party] are greater than you originally thought of.”
“Making this term ‘Chinazi’ is to send a warning to the world: if we do not stop the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), the deaths and the tragedies will probably keep happening,” he said. 

“The victims may not only be the Chinese people, the Hongkongers, the Taiwanese, but may be you. The history of German Nazi may repeat itself.”
As of today (Sept. 26), Nazi imagery was still being deployed, with material featuring swastikas, the Chinazi term, and comparisons between China and the Holocaust still being shared on Telegram groups.

Chinazism

ARBITRARY ARRESTS, BRUTAL BEATINGS AND TORTURE IN HONG KONG POLICE DETENTIONS REVEALED

Amnesty International

A new Amnesty International field investigation has documented an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics, including while arresting people at protests, as well as exclusive evidence of torture and other ill-treatment in detention.
After interviewing nearly two dozen arrested persons and gathering corroborating evidence and testimonies from lawyers, health workers and others, the organization is demanding a prompt and independent investigation into the violations, which appear to have escalated in severity since the mass protests began in June.
“The Hong Kong police’s heavy-handed crowd-control response on the streets has been livestreamed for the world to see. Much less visible is the plethora of police abuses against protesters that take place out of sight,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International.
“The evidence leaves little room for doubt – in an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong’s security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests. This has included arbitrary arrests and retaliatory violence against arrested persons in custody, some of which has amounted to torture.”
More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the context of the mass protests that started over proposed legislative amendments that would have allowed for extradition to mainland China. 

While the vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, there has been violence, which appears to be escalating alongside excessive use of force by the police. 

Most people who spoke to Amnesty International requested anonymity, citing fears of reprisals from the authorities amid a climate of impunity.
Interviews of arrested persons and lawyers by Amnesty International show that police violence most commonly occurred before and during arrest. 

In several cases, detained protesters have also been severely beaten in custody and suffered other ill-treatment amounting to torture. 

In multiple instances, the abuse appears to have been meted out as “punishment” for talking back or appearing uncooperative.
A man detained at a police station following his arrest at a protest in the New Territories in August told Amnesty International that after he refused to answer a police intake question, several officers took him to another room. 

There, they beat him severely and threatened to break his hands if he tried to protect himself.
“I felt my legs hit with something really hard. Then one [officer] flipped me over and put his knees on my chest. I felt the pain in my bones and couldn’t breathe. I tried to shout but I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t talk,” he said.

As the man was pinned to the ground, a police officer forced open the man’s eye and shined a laser pen into it, asking, “Don’t you like to point this at people?” 

This was an apparent reprisal for some protesters’ use of laser pens amid the protests. 

The man was later hospitalized for several days with a bone fracture and internal bleeding.
Amnesty International interviewed a different man who was arrested on another day in August in Sham Shui Po. 

The arresting officer repeatedly asked him to unlock his phone for inspection; angry at the refusals, the officer threatened to electrocute the man’s genitals. 

The man told Amnesty International he was “scared” the officer might follow through, “as the times are so crazy, I suppose anything is possible.”
While detained in a police station common room, the same man witnessed police officers force a boy to shine a laser pen into his own eye for about 20 seconds. 

“It seems he used the laser pen to shine at the police station,” the man recalled. 

“They said, ‘If you like to point the pen at us so much, why don’t you do it to yourself?’”
Amnesty International also documented a clear pattern of police officers using unnecessary and excessive force during arrests of protesters, with anti-riot police and a Special Tactical Squad (STS), commonly known as “raptors”, responsible for the worst violence. 

Almost every arrested person interviewed described being beaten with batons and fists during their arrest, even when they posed no resistance.
A young woman arrested at a protest in Sheung Wan in July was one of many protesters who described being clubbed from behind with a police baton as she was running away from a police charge; she was knocked to the ground and police officers continued to beat her after her hands were zip-tied.
Similarly, a man arrested at a protest in Tsim Sha Tsui in August described retreating and then running as police charged at the assembled protesters. 

He told Amnesty International that “raptors” caught up to him and hit him from behind with their batons on his neck and shoulder. 

He said: “Immediately I was beaten to the ground. Three of them got on me and pressed my face hard to the ground. A second later, they kicked my face … The same three STS kept putting pressure on my body. I started to have difficulty breathing, and I felt severe pain in my left ribcage … They said to me, ‘Just shut up, stop making noise.’”
According to medical records, he was hospitalized for two days and treated for a fractured rib and other injuries. 

In more than 85% of cases investigated by Amnesty International (18 out of 21), the arrested person was hospitalized as a result of their beating, with three of them spending at least five days in a hospital.
“Time and again, police officers meted out violence prior to and during arrests, even when the individual had been restrained or detained. The use of force was therefore clearly excessive, violating international human rights law,” said Nicholas Bequelin.
Amnesty International also documented multiple instances of arbitrary and unlawful arrests, as well as numerous cases where police denied or delayed access to lawyers and medical care to detainees. 

Providing timely access to lawyers, family members and medical professionals for persons in custody is an important safeguard against torture and other ill-treatment.
The findings come after a group of UN experts expressed alarm about the Hong Kong police’s pattern of attacks on and arrests of protesters.
“Given the pervasiveness of the abuses we found, it is clear that the Hong Kong Police Force is no longer in a position to investigate itself and remedy the widespread unlawful suppression of protesters. Amnesty International is urgently calling for an independent, impartial investigation aimed at delivering prosecutions, justice and reparation, as there is little trust in existing internal mechanisms such as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC),” said Nicholas Bequelin.

Right to Interference vs. China

General Jim Mattis said anti-government protests in Hong Kong were “not an internal” Chinese matter: U.S. should side with Hong Kong protesters

By Jonathan Allen

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis speaks at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York, September 9, 2019.

NEW YORK -- Former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday anti-government protests in Hong Kong were “not an internal” Chinese matter and that the United States should offer at least moral support to the demonstrators.
The retired U.S. Marine general, speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York, said the United States should generally side with those standing up for human rights, which he said included the Hong Kong protesters.
“When people stand up for those (rights), I just inherently think we ought to stand with them, even if it’s just moral,” said Mattis, who abruptly resigned as Pentagon chief in December over disagreements with Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
“This is not an internal matter,” Mattis said.
Trump has previously described the protests as riots, but has also called on China to end the discord in a “humanitarian” way. 

He said a crackdown could make his efforts to end a damaging trade war with China “very hard.”
Mattis said China’s effort to pass a law to allow people in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China was in breach of the “one country, two systems” formula under which British control of Hong Kong was ended in 1997.
“They said it would be two systems, and the extradition law was a violation of that,” said Mattis, who is promoting a new memoir about his role in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although the extradition bill was withdrawn last week after months of unrest, the mass protests in streets and public places across Hong Kong continue, having grown into a broader pro-democracy backlash against the Chinese government.
Protesters marched outside the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong over the weekend, urging Trump to help “liberate” the city. 

Hong Kong police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

“We don’t want to say we’re going to land the 82nd Airborne Division in Hong Kong to do this,” he said.
“But morally? Yeah, I think we have to stand with them.”

SURPRISED AT TALIBAN TALKS
Mattis resigned from Trump’s administration a day after Trump’s plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria became public. 

His resignation letter was widely seen as a sharp critique of Trump’s approach to national security, including what Mattis saw as a failure to value American allies around the world.
Although there had been speculation that Mattis might enter the political arena, he has since declined to share his views on Trump, saying it is inappropriate for military figures to pontificate on politics.
Mattis also said he was surprised by the news last weekend that Trump had invited Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders for peace talks in the United States. 

Trump said he canceled the talks after the insurgent group claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier and 11 other people.
“I salute people who try to bring wars to an end,” Mattis said. 

The Taliban, however, had repeatedly failed to break with al Qaeda, the militant group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, he said.
“The Taliban was offered: If you break with al Qaeda, we have no problem with you,” Mattis said. “President (George W.) Bush offered that, President Obama offered that, President Trump has offered that, and they’ve declined. So yes, I was very surprised that we were at that point.”
Asked on Monday whether he had confidence in Trump’s leadership, he said only that he had “great confidence” in American voters and in the U.S. Constitution.
“If we will employ our constitutional checks and balances correctly, this big experiment will continue,” Mattis said.

Hong Kong Democratic and Human Rights Act

Hong Kong protesters beg Trump: "Liberate our city"
By Eileen Ng and Alice Fung

Protesters shout slogans during a protest in Hong Kong, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019. Demonstrators in Hong Kong march to the U.S. Consulate on Sunday to drum up international support for their protest movement, a day after attempts to disrupt transportation to the airport were thwarted by police. 

HONG KONG — Thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong urged President Donald Trump to “liberate” the semiautonomous Chinese territory during a peaceful march to the U.S. Consulate on Sunday, but violence broke out later in the business and retail district after protesters vandalized subway stations, set fires and blocked traffic.
Protesters flooded a park in central Hong Kong, chanting “Resist Beijing, Liberate Hong Kong” and “Stand with Hong Kong, fight for freedom.” 

Many of them, clad in black shirts and wearing masks, waved American flags and carried posters that read “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong” as they marched to the U.S. Consulate nearby.
“Hong Kong is at the forefront of the battle against the totalitarian regime of China,” said Panzer Chan, one of the organizers of the march. 

“Please support us in our fight.”
Hong Kong has been rocked by three months of unrest sparked by a proposed law that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. 

Many saw the extradition bill as a glaring example of the erosion of civil liberties and rights promised under a “one country, two systems” framework when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Hong Kong’s government promised this past week to formally withdraw the bill, but that failed to appease the demonstrators, who have widened their demands to include calls for direct elections for the city’s leaders and an independent probe into thuggish police brutality against protesters.
The unrest has become the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule since Hong Kong’s return from Britain. Beijing and the entirely state-controlled media have portrayed the protests as an effort by "criminals" to split the territory from China, backed by "hostile foreigners".
Protesters on Sunday urged Washington to pass a bill, known as the Hong Kong Democratic and Human Rights Act, to support their cause. 

The bill proposes sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials found to suppress democracy and human rights in the city, and could also affect Hong Kong’s preferential trade status with the U.S.
A group of protesters sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before handing over an appeal letter to a U.S. Consulate official.
Just before the rally ended, violence broke out after riot police detained several people and chased protesters out of the nearby Central subway station. 

Angry protesters smashed glass windows and sprayed graffiti at the station’s exits.
Protesters burned cardboard boxes and other debris to start a fire at one of the exits. 

A barricade was set on fire at a nearby street, but firefighters quickly snuffed it out.
The government said some protesters also blocked traffic at a major thoroughfare near City Hall in the area, paralyzing traffic. 

Riot police chased groups of protesters down several roads as night fell, searching dozens of young people on the street and at the next two subway stations after Central.
The U.S. State Department said in a travel advisory Friday that Beijing has undertaken a propaganda campaign “falsely accusing the United States of fomenting unrest in Hong Kong.” 

It said U.S. citizens and embassy staff have been the target of the propaganda and urged them to exercise increased caution.
American legislators are pressing Trump to take a tougher stand on Hong Kong. 

But Trump has said little in public since recommending on Twitter in mid-August that Chinese dictator Xi Jinping “meet directly and personally” with the protesters.
Political analysts suggest Trump’s response has been muted because he doesn’t want to disrupt talks with Xi’s government over their tariff war.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said last week that he would recommend Trump take “more forceful action” if Chinese authorities crush the demonstrations. 

The protests are an embarrassment to China’s ruling Communist Party less than one month before the Oct. 1 celebration of its 70th anniversary in power.
Sunday’s rally followed violent clashes the previous two nights between protesters and police at several subway stations.
Separately, well-known activist Joshua Wong said in a statement through his lawyer that he was detained at the airport early Friday for breaching bail conditions. 

Wong, a leader of Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy protest movement, was among several people detained last month and was charged with inciting people to join a protest in June.
Wong, who just returned from Taiwan, where he gave speeches on Hong Kong’s protests, and is due to visit Germany and the U.S., said the court had approved his overseas trips.
He described his detention as a procedural hiccup and said he expected to be released Monday. 

His prosecution comes less than two months after his release from prison for a two-month sentence related to the 2014 protests.

7 Ways Hong Kong Protesters Used Low-Tech Hacks to Fight Back

For the past months, the people of Hong Kong have used some ingenious methods to withstand a high-tech police force.
By David Hambling


Hong Kong has seen a struggle between a powerful high-tech police force and peaceful pro-democracy protesters. 

This week, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced she would withdraw a controversial extradition bill to allow suspects to be extradited to mainland China, giving in to the protesters' main demand. 

Lam’s climbdown signals victory for low-tech ingenuity over the police state, won with umbrellas, traffic cones, Allen keys, and the philosophy of Bruce Lee.

1 Holding Back the Tears
Tear gas has been the Hong Kong police’s main weapon for breaking up demonstrations. 

Protesters developed tactics to neutralize the tear gas with quick-reaction squads. 

Early tactics involved smothering the grenade with a wet towel or trying to throw it back with heat-proof gloves, but things have now evolved.
In this video, as soon as a grenade landed near the protesters' lines and started spewing gas, the first squad member rushed out and placed a traffic cone over the top of the device, so that the cloud could not spread. 

A second squad member then poured water through the hole at the top of the traffic cone, from a plastic bottle dousing the grenade.
Another surprisingly effective new tactic is to stick the still-smoking grenade in a thermos flask full of mud to douse it.

2 Umbrella Squad

The umbrella is one of the symbols of the Hong Kong protests, and the protesters are sometimes called the Umbrella Movement. 

The umbrellas are a visible sign of protest, but they also have practical uses: Demonstrators started bringing them to protests in 2014 as protection against pepper spray used by the police. 

Sometimes the protesters lock umbrellas together to form the modern equivalent of a shield wall against spray.
Umbrellas are also used for screening. 

When tear gas grenades are being doused, other team members hold up umbrellas to hide their colleagues from police observation and prevent rubber bullets being aimed at them.
Protesters employed umbrellas in their actions to bring the transport system to a halt, using them to jam subway doors open.

3 Bluetooth Revolution

Smartphones are a powerful tool for a surveillance state, allowing them to track people and monitor their activities via social media postings. 

Protesters are careful not to post from demonstrations, or take selfies. 

They've also found ways to use apps for their own ends.
Some protests are organized via the secure Telegram app. 

Chat groups can have tens of thousands of members, and a polling function allows the participants to vote on what action they should take. 

This is sometimes used tactically, to decide whether a protest should remain in one spot or move on.
The authorities have tried to stop this type of activity by cutting the phone signal in specific areas. Protesters responded by using alternative technology, in particular the AirDrop function built into iPhones and the Bridgefly app, both of which communicate via Bluetooth.

4 Laser Weapons
There are no official figures, but the South China Morning Post estimates that there are at least 50,000 CCTV cameras in Hong Kong. 

Surveillance is everywhere, and the authorities have increasingly been combining it with facial recognition technology to identify target protesters.
Protesters wear gas masks not just against tear gas, but also to obscure their faces. 

And, unsurprisingly, they've also started bringing down the masts that support CCTV cameras. 

In a novel tactic, laser pointers are used to defeat the cameras and dazzle police, making protests look like something out of Star Wars.
Laser pointers have become a protest tool in their own right. 

After a student was arrested for possessing a pointer, hundreds of protesters turned up to shine lasers at the dome of the Hong Kong Space Museum to show support.

5 Hard Headed Protest

Many of the protesters wear yellow hard hats, partly as protection against the batons that Hong Kong police wield enthusiastically. 

Others have taken to wearing sports helmets, and local shops have sold out of all types of protective headgear.
Like the umbrella, the hard hat has become a symbol of the resistance, so people have started wearing them as a form of mute protest against the authorities. 

Commuters and shop assistants can be seen wearing them, some customized with messages like “We Love Hong Kong” or “I just want to get home safe.”
In a pointed show of solidarity, Hong Kong journalists wore helmets at a police press briefing. Because you can’t arrest someone just for wearing a hat, can you?

6 "Be Water"

The Hong Kong protestors built barricades and blocked streets, but they didn't stay long. 

They often dispersed as soon as the police showed up in force, using phone apps to coordinate their actions in flashmob-type actions before riot police could respond.
“We’re going around to stop the police from catching us,” one woman told reporters. 

“We need to be like water.”
“Be Water” has become one of the slogans of the movement. 

It's taken from the philosophy of Hong Kong martial arts movie legend Bruce Lee, who advocated that one “must be shapeless, formless, like water.”
The whole protest movement is deliberately formless, so there are no leaders to arrest. 

And its fluid tactics—disappearing when the opposition is strong and appearing where they are weak— successfully outmaneuvered the police.

7 Hand Signals
Allen keys, pliers, and scissors have been vital weapons in the protestor’s armory. 

The scissors cut cable ties securing street barriers, and the Allen keys unlock the nuts that fasten them together. 

This way protestors can remove obstacles and use them to build their own barricades outside police stations and other strategic spots.
Because such tools are in short supply, Antony Dapiran of the New Statesman observed crowds of protesters using special hand signals to request relevant items, which were then passed along by a human chain to where they were needed. 

These chains can stretch more than a kilometer in an impressive display of coordination, a low-tech, but effective distribution system.

Revolution Now !

New research shows vast majority of Hong Kong protesters support more radical tactics

By Samson Yuen

The biggest difference between the current protest movement and the 2014 Umbrella Movement is the striking solidarity among the various groups of demonstrators. Everyone feels they are ‘in the same boat’ together, new research shows.

Three months on, there’s still no end in sight for the Hong Kong protest movement. 

What started as a demonstration against a bill to amend the city’s extradition laws has now morphed into a broader movement challenging the legitimacy of the government and seeking fundamental political reforms.
Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of protesters – sometimes more than a million – are still taking to the streets. 

The protests draw Hong Kongers from all walks of life: students, doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, civil servants, and, most recently, family members of police officers. 

The discussions on internet forums and encrypted messaging apps remain vibrant, with innovative ideas for new protest actions emerging frequently.
To better understand who the protesters are, as well as why and how they are protesting, I’ve conducted a series of large onsite surveys at 19 demonstrations since June 9, with researchers from other universities. 

We have so far surveyed more than 8,000 protesters with a response rate of over 85%.

What the protesters are angry about
Our data show protesters tend to be young and highly educated. 

On average, half of our respondents are aged between 20 and 30. 

Around 77% said they had a tertiary (higher) education.
Few said they were unemployed, unlike protesters in other mass demonstrations around the world, like the Arab Spring uprisings and Spain’s Indignados movement.
Most respondents identified themselves as either democrats or localists. 

However, in the early stages of the protests, it is also notable that nearly 30% of respondents said that they were centrists or had no political affiliations. 

This dropped to around 15% by early August.
When asked why they were protesting, the vast majority of respondents (more than 90%) cited two main motivations: the complete withdrawal of the controversial extradition bill and an independent inquiry into excessive use of force by police against the protesters.
Interestingly, from July onwards, police violence has become a more pressing concern for respondents, with those who see it as “very important” rising from 85% to over 95%. 

Protesters have also increasingly said they are fighting for Hong Kong’s democracy, with those who see it as “very important” rising from 83% to 88%.
The resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other major officials was considered the least important reason for protesting. 

This suggests that a change in leadership is not viewed as a solution to the political crisis – unlike in 2003, when half a million people marched against changes to Hong Kong’s national security laws and demanded the resignation of then-leader C.H. Tung.
Instead, the protesters are seeking a fundamental reform of the entire political system.
For many of them, the extradition bill is just the surface of a rotting system. 

It merely exposes the underlying problems that have been swept under the carpet for many years: the lack of democratic representation in the policy-making and legislative process, the declining accountability of the government, the blatant domination by a small clique of business and pro-Beijing elites, the increasing unimportance of public opinion, and the steady encroachment on people’s political rights and civil liberties.Most of the Hong Kong protesters are young, well-educated and employed.

Strong solidarity and acceptance of radical tactics
These same long-standing problems are what prompted the Umbrella Movement in 2014. 

But unlike the Umbrella protesters, who were intensely split over protest tactics, the current protest movement is exhibiting much stronger solidarity and resolution in achieving their demands.
The majority of respondents see themselves as “in the same boat” (that is, sharing the same fate) with one another. 

More 80% believe the protests should go on if the government refuses to offer anything other than the suspension of the bill. 

Among them, more than half support escalating the protests.
This extraordinary level of solidarity is striking. 

Part of this is because people have learned from the mistakes of the Umbrella Movement. 

Instead of pointing fingers at each another, protesters are this time using the phrase “do not split, do not sever our ties” to deal with conflicts. 

Misdeeds and transgressions are not condemned, but are now dealt with through collective reflection and friendly reminders.
Fuelling protesters’ solidarity is their strong feeling of desperation. 

Our survey results show the majority of respondents do not expect any true concessions from the government. 

This has remained steady from early on in the protests, and explains the emergence of slogans like “I want to perish together”.
We also found a high tolerance for the more radical and militant tactics of some of the younger protesters, even among those who consider themselves moderates.
Consistently, over 80% agree that peaceful assembly should combine with confrontational actions to maximize the impact of protests. 

In June, slightly less than 70% agreed that radical tactics were understandable when the government refuses to listen. 

That percentage rose to over 90% in the August 4 protests.

No one knows what the “endgame” of the Hong Kong protests will be. 

The government is now hoping that mass arrests, coupled with the new start of the school year and the possible introduction of emergency regulations, may clear out the streets in the next few weeks, ideally before China’s National Day celebrations on October 1.
The strategy may work, but likely only in the short run. 

If the Hong Kong government continues to refuse to heed what people are legitimately asking for, the people will undoubtedly return to the streets.
As research from other social movement studies has taught us, protests take place in cycles. 

The current protest movement in Hong Kong may eventually quiet down after a while, but another one may be brewing on the horizon.