36 Time August 26, 2019
By bringing Hong Kong International
Airport, one of the world’s busiest tran-
sit hubs, to a standstill. Hundreds of
flights were canceled and countless trav-
elers stranded in what appears to have
been the largest-ever shutdown of a
major airport.
The occupation came to a halt the fol-
lowing day in a brief surge of violence, as
protesters turned on at least two people
ostensibly within their ranks— detaining
and injuring a reporter for a Chinese
state- controlled newspaper and a man
suspected of being an undercover Chi-
nese officer disguised as an activist. Riot
police stepped in to break up the fracas,
this time without the tear gas and rubber
bullets used freely in other skirmishes.
One officer was caught on a cell-phone
video drawing a handgun in the middle
of a chaotic tussle, but did not fire.
The tension in that scene defines the
battle for Hong Kong midway through its
third month. The city’s embattled leader,
Chief Executive Carrie Lam, warned ear-
lier that the protests risk pushing Hong
Kong further “into an abyss,” as fears
began to spread that Chinese law en-
forcement might intervene. Joining the
hum of paranoia rippling across social
media, U.S. President Donald Trump said
he had received intelligence that troops
were massing at the border. Before shar-
ing undated footage of what appeared to
be Chinese military vehicles in transit, the
President tweeted: “Everyone should be
calm and safe!”
There is no longer any doubt that
Hong Kong is on a collision course with
the Chinese government, which has
ruled the former British colony since
- What began as an uprising against
a single piece of legislation has spiraled
into all-out rebellion against Beijing’s
encroaching authoritarianism, and a
demand for more democracy. Peaceful
processions have morphed into pitched
battles on the dense residential streets.
Lam and her largely pro-Beijing govern-
ment have all but vanished, hiding be-
hind columns of anonymous riot police
and making occasional, highly scripted
remarks to the press. The increasingly
radical nature of the protests has not, as
authorities expected, diminished their
popular support. But the demonstrators
are nonetheless bracing for a lethal blow
as the government’s patience wears thin.
Long before the city streets became a
battleground, China had already begun
waging a war for Hong Kong’s soul.
Under President Xi Jinping, the Com-
munist Party has quietly used its le-
vers of social control: the freest courts,
schools, media and economy on Chinese
soil. “Just as he’s cracked down on any
signs of dissidence in mainland China,”
says Chris Patten, the last British gov-
ernor of Hong Kong, there has been a
“whittling away of free speech, the au-
tonomy of universities, an undermining
of the rule of law, and that’s increased
people’s anxieties.”
Hong Kong’s populace recognizes
that the city’s unique character and
freedoms are ebbing away—and many
are willing to make sacrifices to defend
them. With arrests on the rise, they risk
their liberty attending marches that au-
thorities have started to label “unlaw-
ful.” They risk the city’s status as a finan-
cial portal, as the unrest begins to take a
toll on the economy. The fear now is that
some may even sacrifice their lives as
China decides how to bring this summer
of demonstrations to an end. “I don’t re-
ally see a way out,” says political analyst
Sonny Lo. “We’re just hoping the situa-
tion won’t deteriorate.”The anniversary of Hong Kong’s
handover to Chinese sovereignty, July 1,
marked a turning point in the crisis,
when anger shifted directly to symbols
of Beijing’s rule. Brian Leung Kai-ping
doesn’t regret what he did that night, but
he knows it will cost him. The 25-year-
old student was among the scrum of
demonstrators who forced their way into
the city’s legislature, known as LegCo.
Having shattered glass walls with a bat-
tering ram, they climbed up an idle es-
calator; felt their way through unlit
corridors; and pried open doors beforespilling onto the chamber floor in their
uniform of black T-shirts, dust masks,
hard hats and goggles. “That moment
was so powerful,” says Leung. “The root
cause of our problem was right there in
that chamber.”
A scene of anarchy ensued as protest-
ers ransacked government offices, de-
faced portraits of the city’s leaders, and
spray- painted slogans on walls and fur-
niture like hong kong is noT china,
noT yeT. Not knowing what to do next,
confused- looking kids milled around
in what by then resembled a disaster
zone. “At that moment, I chose to step
up and take off my mask,” Leung says.
He crawled on top of a lawmaker’s desk,
tore off his respirator and shouted, “We
are at the point of no return!”
How Hong Kong arrived at that mo-
ment is a tale of promises slowly comingWorld