Hong Kong Protestors Take over Universities and Financial District

https://www.wsj.com/articles/protests-take-over-hong-kong-universities-business-district-11573551681?mod=rsswn

by lawrenceyan • 7 years ago

89 26 7 years ago

red2awn• 7 years ago

The bigger news is the police attacked an university in Hong Kong. Thousands of rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets were fired.

justicezyx• 7 years ago

Wow, HK police, backed from Chinese gov, is desperate to attach an university! WTF are they thinking? Why provoke students in campus... No idea what's going on.

PS: I am shocked by this activity. Even during the communism revolution, the government has left the university intact. The HK policy lost their mind...

simlevesque• 7 years ago

HK police are PLA soldiers.

flyingfences2• 7 years ago

I've heard theories that they were after HK's main internet exchange, which is hosted on the campus. I'm not so sure that's a priority for them. I'd be more inclined to believe a "control of academia" angle - to put a limit on "credible" reports and opinions from HK.

The real aim was probably the students. Public perception, especially among the mainland camp, is that this is mostly a youth protest (but from what I've heard, it's far from solely a youth protest). Back in August, they were all saying that the protests would die down and fizzle out once the semester started (which obviously didn't end up happening). In their eyes, the educated youth are the ones "driving" the protests. In their eyes, taking and suppressing the university would be a strike at the core of the pro-HK movement. That didn't work, and now their move is backfiring into further publicity and support for Hong Kong.

mortenjorck• 7 years ago

WSJ’s editorial staff must really want to avoid upsetting anyone in the CCP. Following tweets from people on the ground, like AFP correspondent Xinqi Su (https://twitter.com/xinqisu), Quartz reporter Mary Hui (https://twitter.com/maryhui), academic researcher on networked protests Zeynep Tufekci (https://twitter.com/zeynep), or quite surprisingly Pinboard founder Maciej Ceglowski (https://twitter.com/pinboard), paint a starkly different picture from the article.

homarp• 7 years ago

as http://www.hkix.net/hkix/whatishkix.htm indicates, CUHK hosts Hong Kong Internet exchange (HKiX).

8bitsrule• 7 years ago

History note: The US was tear-gassing universities over 50 years ago. From helicopters.

daodedickinson• 7 years ago

Still incredibly pessimistic that Hong Kongers could somehow win a war for independence... or that anything short of that could win a future of safety for these "protestors"

Just last night I felt guilty for buying something made in China but still did it again... and there certainly wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf

flyingfences2• 7 years ago

I think the aim at this point is not to win outright independence, but to re-secure the autonomy that they are accustomed to and ride it out until the Communist mainland government collapses. (Which may or may not happen...)

tossAfterUsing• 7 years ago

wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf

was it a needed thing or a wanted thing? if the former, consider making it yourself & selling it as a not-from-china product

camgunz2• 7 years ago

Yeah this POV is totally backwards. HKPF attempted to arrest students in university dorms, and HK protestors stopped them. HKPF fired over 2500 rounds of tear gas, enough to kill birds flying overhead. Disappointing to see such a CCP-friendly skew from a venerable American journalism outfit (maybe that's being too generous these days though).

xwolfi• 7 years ago

Dude it's not so straight. First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction, second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there (I remind you they are more lethal than tear gas round) and third this standoff produce 0 positive effect in retrospect.

I'm all for opposing our communist overlords, but they might not be convinced to listen if we hurl molotov and cry at birds rather than show a reasonable front, which is what ended the extradition law in the first place.

neonIcon3• 7 years ago

Not sure what fantasy land you live in but it is far from ended.. Do you really think the CCP won't eventually ram it through?

camgunz2• 7 years ago

First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction

Right but you need a warrant, which the police did not have and never got, because they weren't there to arrest anyone in particular, because they had no cause, because this is a terror tactic.

second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there

It's real easy to build a molotov, especially if you have a bunch of protestors working in an assembly line. Which is fortunate, because that's probably the only thing that kept the cops from arresting scores of innocent students to be beaten and raped in jail.

People have the right to defend themselves. HKPF are genuinely a threat to Hongkongers and have lost all legitimacy. It's a true tragedy, but the time for excuses and apologists is past.

jimworm• 7 years ago

Attempted to enter the dorms to arrest nobody in particular, without a warrant. After seeing the past few months' video evidence of police brutality, fear and resistance seem somewhat justified.

Personally I haven't yet imagined a way out that satisfies all sides. The fear of police seems deeply ingrained in the population and no current or former protester believes they would be treated fairly if the movement abandons any of the demands. The government, fearful of reprisal from the ruthless Beijing elite, are unwilling to grant any concessions to the protest demands. The police are also deeply fearful of an independent judicial investigation into their activities, and must maintain a state of disorder, increasing the government's dependence on police so that they will not launch an investigation. It seems like the situation has reached a Nash equilibrium and the whole ship is doomed to continue sinking.

mgamache• 7 years ago

"without a warrant" is a warrant needed? It's US and UK law, but not sure it's HK.

djvu9• 7 years ago

This headline is completely misleading. Those who "took over" the universities are the students who actually LIVE there. And those who "took over" the financial district are people who work there: they just protest downstairs during their lunch time.

You don't take over your home or office because you f*king own it.

neonIcon3• 7 years ago

My understanding is that the HK Internet exchange for Hong Kong is hosted at the university. Would taking that down black out Hong Kong?

iudqnolq• 7 years ago

Presumably cables go into and out of the exchange and could be disrupted at a number of easier to access points. Others say they want to install surveillance hardware but if the Chinese government had that kind of hardware lying around wouldn't they have installed it before the protests?

hirundo• 7 years ago

These protests show the pros and cons of colonialism. Con, in that Hong Kong's differences from the mainland are the fuel for this deadly conflict. Pro, in that these differences are behind this island becoming one of the most productive spots on Earth. The flourishing of these people would likely not have happened had Britain not leased it for 99 years. Even if China obliterates the difference, it has been irreversibly infected by the ideologies of the colonist.

What would the world look like if we could dial back the level of colonialism over the last 2k years? Hong Kong makes a case for such cross-pollination as a human accelerant.

opinionhk• 7 years ago

May I suggest your guys to take a look this interview "Will violence kill Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement? | Conflict Zone" over YouTube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nNeO0yWyk

adultSwim• 7 years ago

If we did any of this in the US, we would all be shot.

Hong Kong Protestors Take over Universities and Financial District

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