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FEATURING FRANCIS YIP – Hong Kong police have arrested two prominent pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, ahead of another weekend’s planned activities in the mass movement that has gripped Hong Kong for the past three months. Wong and Chow gained fame for the role they played in the 2014 mass uprising that came to be known as the Umbrella movement exactly 5 years ago this weekend. They were charged with organizing illegal protests and released on bail. Meanwhile tens of thousands of women and men gathered on Wednesday for a massive rally under the #MeToo banner, claiming that Hong Kong police had sexually assaulted female protesters.

The movement that was sparked by a China-backed extradition bill aimed at dissenting Hong Kongers has gone on for longer than anyone expected. China has made verbal threats warning protesters that they would face the armed might of the Chinese military but Hong Kong’s residents have brushed them off. Now Chinese troops have moved into Hong Kong saying it is part of a scheduled troop rotation. We go to Hong Kong to speak with an academic who has been involved in and studying the protest movement.

Francis Yip, Associate Professor teaching Christian theology at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College in the Chinese University of Hong Kong.