A year on, Hong Kong democracy protesters torn between hope and fear
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[June 09, 2020]
By Yanni Chow and Carol Mang
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Medical sector worker
Tana has attended peaceful lunchtime rallies in Hong Kong regularly for
months along with thousands of others protesting Beijing's influence and
calling for greater democracy in the global financial hub.
Now, a year on from a mass rally that kicked off a large scale and often
violent anti-government movement, 37-year-old Tana and her husband fear
not enough has changed.
The protests succeeded in forcing a backdown by the Hong Kong government
on proposed legislation that would have allowed extradition to mainland
China. But a year later, authorities in Beijing are drafting national
security laws that activists fear would further curb freedoms.
For Tana and her family, including a son born just before the protests
began, pragmatism is beginning to trump idealism.
"I am most worried about my child," Tana told Reuters, requesting her
surname be withheld for security reasons. The family has already shifted
their savings abroad, she said, and "emigration might be an option."
Among supporters of the protest movement, feelings range from slim hope
to acute fear of oppression. After a relative respite during the
coronavirus outbreak, protesters are again taking to the streets against
the proposed security laws. Officials have said the laws would target a
small number of "troublemakers" with provisions against secession,
subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.
Ng, a retired 63-year-old woman is among those looking back at the past
year with pride and pledges to keep demonstrating.
"A single spark can start a huge blaze," she said, also requesting she
be identified by one name only. "The more the government suppresses us,
the more resisting we become."
David, 22, who works in insurance and declined to give his surname, said
a mix of violent and peaceful tactics was needed for international
attention.
David said he "sometimes felt overwhelmed with fear" when he helped at
rallies by mixing petrol bombs and disabling tear gas canisters, but he
felt compelled to continue.
Demonstrations have often turned violent, with protesters blocking
roads, vandalising shops perceived to have pro-Beijing links and
throwing bricks and molotovs at the police, who have responded with tear
gas and rubber bullets.
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Pro-democracy demonstrators stage a rally for the first anniversary
of a mass rally against the now-withdrawn extradition bill, at a
shopping mall in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Isaiah Choy, who studies in Britain but came back last year to take
part in peaceful protests, said violent tactics should be abandoned.
The 21-year-old said he is frustrated with Hong Kong being treated
as a "pawn" in U.S.- China conflicts.
Washington, which has traded barbs with Beijing over trade, the
coronavirus pandemic and other issues, says China has quashed the
high degree of autonomy that Hong Kong was promised for at least 50
years when it returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Beijing
has dismissed the claim and urged Washington not to meddle.
MUTUAL DESTRUCTION
The protests have strong support among Hong Kong's 7.5 million
people, according to opinion polls, with about one third of the
population opposed.
Keung, 50, said he supported national security laws and hoped the
pro-democracy movement "will end soon because evil can never prevail
over good."
"It is normal for the government to set up laws to tighten its grip
when people are violating the previous ones," Keung, who also gave
one name only, told Reuters.
Others vow to continue to protest for as long as it takes.
Sixty-four-year-old retiree Fu has embraced the often chanted slogan
"if we burn, you burn with us," referring to the belief that as a
magnet for global capital, Hong Kong is the goose that lays the
golden eggs for the mainland economy.
Fu said he has lost many childhood friends because of his position,
but he has no regrets: "I am a die hard fan of mutual destruction
and Hong Kong independence."
(Writing by Marius Zaharia; editing by Jane Wardell)
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