Hi everyone, I wanted to write quickly to talk about what’s going on here.
First off, I’m safe. The news only discusses the fighting, but the part of Hong Kong where I live is safe. No violent protests, no riot police — just safety. Thank you everyone who’s been reaching out to me making sure I’m okay!
Today was National Day, which Hong Kongers have come to know as Remembrance Day. Today is the 70th anniversary of the formation of the PRC, and is celebrated every year on October 1st. Hong Kong has 12 public holidays that employees get work off, with this being one. People typically celebrate here with a fireworks showing and public events, but all were cancelled.
Note: most photos I’ll be sharing were not taken by me, but are from the internet. These are posted by people that are trusted in the region to provide accurate information, but like any news on the internet — trust your judgement.
This is a populous area on Hong Kong Island. Most MTR (public transportation) stations in the city were closed from early this morning, leading to empty streets; here’s the stations closure map for later in the day.
The grayed out stations were closed most of the day. For reference, the Chief Executive Headquarter is located at Admiralty (on the blue island line, middle-bottom of the map) and I’m off Hang Hau (purple line, far right of the map). The main gray portion of this map represents where most of the population lives — transportation was overall cut off today in the city.
There were 6 planned protests today (note: not all protests were given permission by the government today, and I’m not sure which are which). Here’s the poster distributed:
The header says “6 Districts’ War,” followed by motivational messages and the details. None of these were close to me, and many were marches that moved around in their local areas.
The empty streets we saw above didn’t stay abandoned for long. Protests broke out around the city as the Chinese National Parade was occurring in China about 2,000 km away. Both cities were plagued with hard smog today. In Hong Kong, particulates in the air reached an overall score of 183 today — for reference, unhealthy conditions start at around 100. At time of writing (11pm local) the level is still around 153. The air quality is definitely noticeable by people on the ground.
Nonetheless, protesters made their way out. Here’s the overall timeline of the protests this summer:
February - May 2019: An extradition bill is worked on that would allow Chinese officials to extradite people in Hong Kong to the mainland for criminal purposes. Revisions were made, and people came to detest the bill.
June 9th: Hundreds of Hong Kong locals demonstrated against the bill. Pepper spray and batons were used in this initial march.
June: More marches and demonstrations occur in efforts to block the bill, with ballooning numbers of protesters (some say that one march reached 2 million members).
July 14th: In Sha Tin (closer to the mainland border), protesters use water bottles and umbrellas to fight police officers in light riot gear. Over 40 protesters arrested.
July 21st: A gang of older men wearing white attack protesters trapped in a metro station. Police said they arrested some of these men, but protesters believe they are in tandem with the police. Trust in police was already low, but this moment brings it much lower.
July 28th: Tear gas is used by police for the first time. Many of these cannisters are expired and improperly shot, which can be dangerous (and lethal).
August: Protests progress, with protesters becoming more creative in usage of marches, human chains, peaceful protests, etc. Police are seen attacking protesters during violent clashes, tensions between locals and mainlanders escalate as protesters are seen beating mainlanders up at times, and water cannons come into the picture.
August 25th: The first live warning shot is fired by an officer. This marks day 78 of protests, a day less than the Umbrella Movement of 2014 (the previous record holder). These protests are set to become Hong Kong’s longest yet.
September 4th: Chief Executive Carrie Lam withdraws the extradition bill, the original cause of the summer of protests. It’s too late though: protesters have come together behind 5 Demands, not one less: Withdrawal of the extradition bill (now complete), exoneration of those arrested in the protests, an inquiry into police brutality during the protests, retraction of the official terminology of “rioters” towards the protesters, and dual universal suffrage for the people (their government has a very interesting setup currently).
September 29th: Protests intensify in preparation for the National Holiday Tuesday the 1st, and protesters are in full march across the city. Citywide media has clips of riot police running after protesters, protesters vandalizing camera posts and MTR stations, molotov cocktails by protesters and dyed-water cannons by police being utilized.
Today, October 1st: The first shot was fired directly at protesters. Many videos are available of the incident, the firing was done point-blank and was centimeters from the heart. Locals are afraid of deaths and disappearances that have been occurring around the city these past couple months.
That’s the abridged version. Locals are keeping track of every incident, as seen here.
I share this news not for you to be scared for my safety (I haven’t come close to any tear gas, rubber bullets or water cannons, there are plenty of safe areas nearby, and protests are very well documented and shared before they occur by locals), but for you to know what’s going on.
As an exchange student, it’s well known here that my role is not to be on the front lines — for their sake and mine together. What they ask for most is to share the news, to understand what’s going on, and to support them.
The toughest thing for many of these people is that they’re so young. The ones leading the protests are teenagers, from 8 years old to their 20’s. It’s a young people’s fight because they know in 2047 that their home will be put under the same system as China. And they read the news like we do at home in America: China is an authoritarian country as seen today with their military parade. They’re fighting for their freedoms.
I keep an eye on the American official travel advisory to Hong Kong periodically. If it goes from Level 2 (exercise increased caution) to Level 3 (reconsider travel), then I’m afraid I will be asked to return to my home university by UCSB. My campus is very safe, nor do I fear for my safety. Students and faculty on campus alike are in agreement: practice caution and you are not in danger.
Given what’s happened today, I don’t think these protests are going away soon — I don’t even think they’ll have finished by the time I return home. I feared for the Chinese military to storm the city (which I’m extremely thankful didn’t occur), but gunfire directed at protesters from police is not a good sign.
This is a bit outdated, and I don’t believe Hong Kong expectations of American support are attainable, but here are some of the things they’d like from supporters.
Thanks for keeping up with this post — feel free to share. Photos are from a mixture of Reddit, myself, and other peers from HKUST. I hope this post helps people understand the situation going on, and for what’s to come. If you have questions, I’d love to answer them.
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