When hundreds of protesters stormed Hong Kong’s legislature building , Tom was among them, out of solidarity with his fellow protesters. “It would be harder for the police to arrest people if there were many of us,” said the young athlete, who declined to give his full name.

But Tom, like many young people in Hong Kong involved in the recent protests against a controversial extradition bill, is now unsure what to do next. Hong Kong has been rocked by its biggest political crisis, with millions thronging the streets under a sweltering sun to protest against a law that would allow individuals to stand trial in China’s opaque courts.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People offer prayers during a vigil in Hong Kong in memory of four youths who took their lives in recent anti-government protests. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

The protests forced the government to suspend the bill. Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, apologised, but protesters demanded that the government fully withdraw the bill and release all those arrested in protests. They wanted an independent investigation into the police’s use of force, when they resorted to teargas, rubber bullets and truncheons on largely peaceful crowds. Frustrations rose and tensions erupted on the anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 return to Chinese rule. Police fired teargas after midnight to disperse them.

“What haven’t we tried? We have tried peaceful rallies and we have tried barging into the legislature. And a few have even jumped to their death, what more could be more radical than that?” Tom sighed, referring to the recent deaths of at least three people who killed themselves after leaving behind messages in protest against the extradition law.

However, one message was clear among the young people who talked to the Observer – they said they would not easily resort to violence, but if their political demands continue to go unheeded they would not rule out escalating their actions again.

“Things will not be settled so quickly, people will continue to fight,” said another protester, who was also in his 20s. He, too, was unsure about the next step, but said that he “didn’t have a problem with storming the legislature”.

“When we’re fighting against a government which doesn’t have a bottom line, we don’t have a bottom line either,” said another young man who declined to be identified.

Although Lam, who disappeared for almost two weeks as the crisis mounted, offered to meet university student representatives behind closed doors, they rebuffed her invitation as a public relations move. They said that she should first drop the prosecution of dozens of protesters who have been arrested and called for the meeting to be public. The Hong Kong government has so far showed no sign of giving in to any of the protesters’ political demands, while Beijing urged the Hong Kong authorities to investigate the “criminal responsibility of violent offenders”.

Quick guide Democracy under fire in Hong Kong since 1997 Show Hide Hong Kong’s democratic struggles since 1997 1 July 1997: Hong Kong, previously a British colony, is returned to China under the framework of “one country, two systems”. The “Basic Law” constitution guarantees to protect, for the next 50 years, the democratic institutions that make Hong Kong distinct from Communist-ruled mainland China. 2003: Hong Kong’s leaders introduce legislation that would forbid acts of treason and subversion against the Chinese government. The bill resembles laws used to charge dissidents on the mainland. An estimated half a million people turn out to protest against the bill. As a result of the backlash, further action on the proposal is halted. 2007: The Basic Law stated that the ultimate aim was for Hong Kong’s voters to achieve a complete democracy, but China decides in 2007 that universal suffrage in elections for the chief executive cannot be implemented until 2017. Some lawmakers are chosen by business and trade groups, while others are elected by vote. In a bid to accelerate a decision on universal suffrage, five lawmakers resign. But this act is followed by the adoption of the Beijing-backed electoral changes, which expand the chief executive’s selection committee and add more seats for lawmakers elected by direct vote. The legislation divides Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp, as some support the reforms while others say they will only delay full democracy while reinforcing a structure that favors Beijing. 2014: The Chinese government introduces a bill allowing Hong Kong residents to vote for their leader in 2017, but with one major caveat: the candidates must be approved by Beijing. Pro-democracy lawmakers are incensed by the bill, which they call an example of “fake universal suffrage” and “fake democracy”. The move triggers a massive protest as crowds occupy some of Hong Kong’s most crowded districts for 70 days. In June 2015, Hong Kong legislators formally reject the bill, and electoral reform stalls. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam, widely seen as the Chinese Communist party’s favoured candidate, is hand-picked in 2017 by a 1,200-person committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites. 2019: Lam pushes amendments to extradition laws that would allow people to be sent to mainland China to face charges. The proposed legislation triggers a huge protest, with organisers putting the turnout at 1 million, and a standoff that forces the legislature to postpone debate on the bills. After weeks of protest, often meeting with violent reprisals from the Hong Kong police, Lam announced that she would withdraw the bill. Photograph: Dale de la Rey/AFP

Regina Ip, a pro-government politician and former security chief, said the government should not give in to people’s political demands, saying it would set a “dangerous precedent” if the government were to give an amnesty to arrested protesters because it would see Hong Kong “rapidly descending into lawlessness”.

Many young people have expressed their sense of helplessness in the face of a political system in which they have little say. Hong Kong’s leader is not elected by voters but by a committee accountable to Beijing. Only half of the 70-seat legislature is directly elected, while the other 35 seats are occupied by mostly pro-establishment figures from corporate and special interest groups. Moreover, by ejecting six pro-democracy representatives and barring candidates seen as pro-independent from running for elections, the Hong Kong government weakened the pro-democracy camp’s power to block unpopular policies in the legislature.

While vowing to keep up the fight, an older generation of pro-democracy activists worry that the hardline attitude of the authorities will drive their young counterparts to the brink.

“We will just persist in this fight and we carry on,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy politician. “But many of the young people actually feel desperate; however you do it, peaceful marches, storming into the legislature, these have yielded little effect,” she added.

“Some say they want to fight till they die. The desperation, the resentment and hostility. Some are feeling fearful as police started a massive huntdown of protesters,” she said.

“They just can’t take it anymore. Hong Kong is in this saddening, messy and maddening situation. It’s a hopeless future.”

Professor Michael Davis, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said that, as Beijing tightened its control over Hong Kong and denied its people democracy, the special administrative region was trapped in “a vicious circle of crisis and protest”.

“The Hong Kong and Beijing governments have long showed themselves tone deaf on protests relating to human rights and democracy. So if the government continues as usual the protesters might expect a broader level of Beijing interference,” he said.

Davis said he expected protesters to continue using creative tactics to drive forward the momentum of the movement as they have done over the past weeks. Apart from mass demonstrations, protesters have also occupied parts of the tax office and immigration buildings, although they were criticised for causing disruption to ordinary people. “I expect less of the more aggressive tactics such as we saw with the break-in to the legislature, but this can sometimes be driven unwisely by events and by the tactics of the police on the opposite side,” he said.

Joseph Cheng, a retired political scientist at the City University of Hong Kong, said the problem with moving the momentum forward was that “there is no realisable short-term objective”.

“The government ignores the short-term objectives like the withdrawal of the bill and an independent investigation into the police use of force. As for the long-term ones like political reform, there is no hope. Beijing won’t agree to democratisation,” Cheng said.

He said he expected outbursts of discontent, sometimes violent, from time to time so long as Beijing continues to deny Hong Kong democracy. “Ultimately Hong Kong people do not want to challenge the Chinese Communist party. They want to be left alone, they want a basic guarantee of freedoms and political rights, and they know that this guarantee must be in the democratic system in Hong Kong, but they’re not getting it.”“Beijing is most unwilling to make this concession. Beijing doesn’t make concessions to mass movements because it is worried about the demonstrations’ effects on the mainland,” Cheng said.