A generation criminalized

Ivan had screwed up, and now he was trapped.

A member of a small cell of frontline protesters -- one of the many who have fought riot police across Hong Kong during the past six months of anti-government unrest -- his job was handling logistics and keeping an eye on police movements.

Often, he says he would hang back to help make sure equipment was getting to those at the front, helmets and masks passed from person to person in a massive human chain through the protest lines, or to ensure that there was a clear path of retreat for when the police inevitably charged.

On that day in August, amid pouring rain that had hampered police officers’ use of tear gas, Ivan was heading back to the van his protest cell was using to transport supplies. It was only a couple of blocks away, but as he jogged over, he turned onto a side street and suddenly found himself facing a new line of protesters that had splintered off from the main group. Looking behind, he saw a corresponding line of heavily-armed riot police, with a red warning banner held up over their heads.

Police hold warning flags as they face off against protesters. Credit: Getty Images

“It was very bad timing,” Ivan told CNN, which has agreed to identify him by a pseudonym so he could speak without fear of further repercussions from the police.

“They started charging -- and that’s how I got arrested.”

In that, he is by no means alone. Since the protests escalated in June, more than 6,100 people have been arrested for a range of offenses -- including taking part in unlawful assemblies like the one Ivan attended.

Almost a thousand people have been formally charged so far, but the number is expected to rise, as are arrests, as police pour over the reams of evidence amassed throughout the past six months.

The unrest began with largely peaceful mass marches against a proposed extradition bill with China. Though the bill has since been withdrawn, the initial protests unleashed a torrent of anger and frustration with Hong Kong’s political system. Since June, protesters have demanded an investigation into allegations of police brutality and called for greater democracy.

The early demonstrations were legally-approved marches, however, almost everyone who has attended protests in recent months has been at an event deemed unlawful. Many may be guilty of rioting, due to the offense’s broad legal definition, or of violating a ban on facial coverings at public assemblies, which city leaders introduced by invoking rarely-used emergency powers.

The number of people potentially eligible for arrest could number in the hundreds of thousands.

Many of those already arrested, like Ivan, are in their twenties, or even younger. They have been the drivers of the protest movement but have also borne the brunt of the reaction and could be the ones ultimately paying the cost -- an entire generation criminalized, in a fight for their future which could end up costing them just that.

More than 1,000 protests and demonstrations since June 9

According to police, some are small -- a few hundred people rallying in a park -- and some draw tens of thousands of attendees, often exploding into violence.

CHINAHong KongIslandNew TerritoriesKowloonLantau IslandCauseway BayCentral,AdmiraltyTuen MunPrince Edward,Mong KokSha TinYuen LongAirportTseung Kwan OTsuen WanTai PoJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Six months that changed Hong Kong

While Hong Kong is part of China, it also maintains a degree of autonomy. As a former British colony, it enjoys its own legal and political systems, and protected freedoms of press, speech, and assembly.

When protesters marched in June, it was with one objective -- to demand the withdrawal of a bill they thought threatened those freedoms.

Championed by the city’s top leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the bill would have allowed extradition of fugitives to mainland China.

Hong Kong’s freedoms stand in stark contrast to the mainland, where President Xi Jinping maintains a tight grip on power. China’s legal system is beholden to the ruling Communist Party -- it has a notoriously high conviction rate and a history of political prosecutions. It's one of the main reasons why Hong Kong protesters were so fiercely opposed to the extradition bill; they feared Beijing could use the bill to target political dissidents and erode Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Carrie Lam becomes Chief Executive of Hong Kong on July 1, 2017, with a net approval rating of 64%Anti-extradition bill protestsstart in June 2019Carrie Lam’s net approval rating drops to 20%,the lowest score among all Chief Executives

In June, after protest organizers estimated 2 million people took to the streets, Lam said she wanted to offer the city her "most sincere apology."

"I have heard you loud and clear and have reflected deeply on all that has transpired," she said. "The concerns over the past few months have been caused by the deficiencies of the (Hong Kong) government."

But the standoff continued.

As protests stretched on through the summer, peaceful mass marches were largely replaced by violent clashes with police. Police fired tear gas once, then twice, then every week, while protesters built flaming barricades and threw petrol bombs and bricks.

Chinese state media criticized the protests, with China Daily saying Hong Kong had been plagued by "unwarranted political wrangling and violent radicalism.”

Over several months of street battles, the protest movement coalesced around the slogan “Five demands, not one less.” The first was the withdrawal of the extradition bill, which Lam’s government officially did in September. Remaining demands include: launch an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality; retract the categorization of previous protests as "riots"; provide amnesty for arrested protesters; and introduce full universal suffrage.

1Fully withdraw the extradition bill.2Launch an independentinquiry into alleged police brutality.3Retract thecategorization ofprevious protests as “riots.”4Amnestyfor arrestedprotesters.5Introduction offull universal suffrage.

Many protesters frame the conflict as an all-or-nothing battle between democracy and authoritarianism. They see this as a fight to determine which way the city's future falls -- whether Hong Kong can preserve its autonomy as Beijing grows increasingly assertive -- a desperation reflected in protest slogans like "Save Hong Kong” and “If we burn, you burn with us.”

The unrest has consumed the city, reshaping its politics and creating deep rifts in families and among friends. It has also fundamentally shifted young people’s role in a place that once seemed to overlook them.

In the past six months
there have been

6,105people arrested

2,640hospitalized

16,000rounds of tear gas

10,000rubber bullets

Source: Hong Kong Police Force

Youth movement

Young people and students have driven Hong Kong’s protest movement for years, from marches in 2012 that helped defeat a plan to introduce Chinese-style “patriotic education,” to 2014’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. The current unrest is no different.

Yet despite their outsized effect on the city’s politics, Hong Kong’s youth have a reputation -- not always completely warranted -- for being well-behaved and studious.

The city’s hyper-competitive education system means that many spend their teenage years working to meet often-punishing standards set by parents and teachers. Youth crime is practically non-existent. In the first half of 2018, according to police, fewer than a thousand people aged 16 to 20 were arrested, in a city of more than 7 million.

Even billboards and advertising hoardings reflect a lifelong emphasis on education and hard work. Adverts aimed at young people are for cram schools and interview prep classes, while posters on the sides of buses and trams feature the faces of star tutors, mini-celebrities for their ability to get kids into the world’s best institutions.

All this has changed in the past six months. The adverts are still there, Graffiti, once confined to a few underpasses, has sprung up everywhere. And Hong Kong’s youth are actively going against the push for educational attainment. Before this summer’s unrest, young people spent their weekends studying for exams and worrying about their grades. Now, many spend their time preparing for the next protest.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net