On Tuesday the 1st of October, 18-year old student Tsang Chi-King from Hong Kong was shot in the chest from close range by a riot-police officer. The bullet ended up mere centimeters from his heart. Tsang Chi-Kin is one of the many victims of excessive police violence that has been running rampant throughout the city for months. On Tuesday the 1st of October, we here in Leiden went about our business, mostly unaware of the pain of Hong Kong.

Millions of protesters have been taking to the streets for months in Hong Kong to voice their discontent with the growing influence of the mainland Chinese government in the autonomous city-state. The spark that lighted the protests was a highly controversial extradition law that would allow for dissidents to be extradited and put on trial in mainland China, where court systems are controlled by the Communist Party. This law was ultimately withdrawn, but protests are far from over. The protesters have now set a 5-point ultimatum to the government of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, and have confirmed they will not stop protesting until their demands are met. Among the demands are complete amnesty for arrested protesters, an independent investigation into police violence, and democratic elections.

Hong Kong has the reputation of being a relatively free and autonomous part of China, after its independence from the United Kingdom in 1997. The Communist regime on the mainland however, has strengthened its grip over the city-state the last couple of years. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s current “executive” has been appointed by the Chinese government. The large-scale protests of this year are the result of years of extreme discontent and frustration of Hong Kong citizens about these developments.

Live ammo

While the Communist government of China celebrated the country’s 70-year existence on the 1st of October in its usual megalomaniac style, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens once again took to the streets to protest. For the first time since the protests of this year started, police used live ammunition against its own citizens. Dozens of people were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Images of the behavior of the Hong Kong police are showing the ongoing escalation of the conflict. Children as young as 12 years old have been arrested for being near the protests, and heart-breaking footage of a mentally ill young man who is violently being thrown on the ground by multiple heavily armed policemen shows the shocking brutality of the force that the Hong Kong police are ready to use against their compatriots.

Student committees of 10 Hong Kong universities and over 200 high schools announced in August that they will not follow classes on the first day of the new school year, in protest of the police violence and the government’s refusal to provide clarity about the extradition law. The following week, students called for everyone to wear masks on the streets, protesting the recently instated emergency law against covering one’s face.