Unmasking of Hong Kong

Illustration by Drew Andersen

Hong Kong has been torn apart by violent anti-government protests. Clouds of tear gas are a common sight. Television crews and photographers record shopping centers where pro-democracy demonstrators clash with riot police.

The public protest began over a bill that would have allowed the extradition of Hong Kong residents to the harsh judicial system in mainland China. A peaceful procession of hundreds of thousands of people began on June 9. By June 12, protests turned into conflict as riot police began to disperse pro-democracy demonstrations with projectiles — tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons.

The protesters are loosely organized. They are guerrillas with iPhones. They communicate via LIHKG, an online forum based in Hong Kong, along with videos, pictures, coded text, and voice messaging. Map apps are used to alert different groups about riot police locations or front line hot spots.

This group is clad in black, donning masks, helmets, protective sleeves to elude thousands of surveillance cameras throughout Hong Kong integrated with facial recognition software. Some protesters function as medics: rinsing people's eyes with water to clean out tear gas, applying salves to burns, bandaging wounds, and evacuating the injured to a safe place. 

Phoenix Hoi Lam is a 24-year-old biology major from Hong Kong University, with friends at Santa Monica College. During her recent visit to Los Angeles, she filled a shopping cart at Home Depot with items now scarce at home: gas masks. In addition to damaging skin, eyes, and lung tissue, tear gas has been used to spread fear.

Hoi Lam stated that the masks she found in Home Depot were substandard for her purposes. “It is not the one strong enough. We need 3M 6900 full face [mask] filter like 3M 60926 and 6099. I have to purchase these on Amazon.” 

Friends with front-line experience told her that these more robust masks are “for blocking hydrogen cyanide, a chemical that could be found in tear gas emitted by police.”

By October, a mask ban was enacted by Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam without legislative approval, by invoking powers granted under a rarely used emergency regulations ordinance. Lam’s approval rating is now as low as 20 percent. 

Hoi Lam observed, “The mask ban is totally for the police to arrest and identify protesters. I think people are getting more angry about it, and more people are joining the protest force, even some people who were indifferent to it. People are not getting afraid of the ban.”

The protester’s ignorance of the ban further inflamed tensions in the city, setting off a series of violent clashes wherein riot police commonly shoot student protesters point blank with tear gas canisters.

Pro-democracy advocates shot back with hundreds of thousands of ballots at the polls during Hong Kong's most recent local election – a 70 percent voter turnout. The recent landslide city council election made clear the grassroots protesters have the overwhelming support of Hong Kong voters. 

Hoi Lam explains, “The turnout rate is almost double of last election … Proved to the [Beijing] government that our voice of demanding democracy is the majority instead of what they think of as minority …The majority supports the protest to strive for democracy.”

The United States Congress responded last week by passing new bipartisan human rights legislation covering the city of Hong Kong. The new law could lead to sanctions on Chinese officials for cracking down on the protesters.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, “America is proud to stand with the people of Hong Kong on the side of freedom and justice.” 

Hoi Lam reports, "The HK people is very excited about the US Congress act. People are waving US flags…hoping US will further intervene and make sanction to pro-China parties."

The second bill signed into law by the United States Congress bans the sale of crowd control munitions like tear gas and rubber bullets to the Hong Kong police. However, student Hoi Lam notes, "Police are using tear gas made in China now. The China-made tear gas are found to be more toxic than the previous ones.”

The fast-changing pro-democracy events in Hong Kong appear tailor made for television and YouTube, with the whole world watching. The fact remains that Hong Kong is a city in the People’s Republic of China. Protesters tag slogans in four Chinese characters that most Western media translate as saying “Free Hong Kong” when actually, there is a subtle difference. The four Mandarin characters say “Restore Hong Kong”, meaning changing Hong Kong “back to its good old days”.

The recent upbeat democratic elections in Hong Kong and American sanctions bode well for its future. The generation that drives this future is both idealistic and pragmatic, living through the recent experience of police state tactics. Hoi Lam confesses, “Most of us are still afraid of and hating the police.”