ANTI-EXTRADITION PROTESTS IN HONG KONG

On March 15, 2019 the Hong Kong Government introduced the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill which would allow for Mainland China to extradite fugitives from the territory which has long enjoyed a special sovereignty from Beijing. The bill sparked massive protests that continue to the present, as many Hong Kongers feared the over reach of Beijing and the erasure of the special freedoms they had long enjoyed. Protesters spent the months following occupying buildings and even the Hong Kong airport in an effort to put the city at a standstill and economically hurt the Chinese mainland and its supporters within the territory. They were met with a brutal and violent police response, which only served to ignite the movement further and stoke the flames of resistance. For two weeks in August I covered the continuing mass protest that soon shut down the city.

Hong Kong police in riot gear stand outside the Ngau Tau Kok Police Station in Kwun Tong after chasing off protesters who spray-painted slogans on the station’s exterior wall and prepare to charge into a mass gathering of pro-democracy protesters on August 24, 2019. After a tense standoff, police and protesters clashed fiercely in Kwun Tong and continued to clash throughout the area into the night.

Pro-democracy protesters link hands together in Tsim Sha Tsui during the ‘Hong Kong Way’ protest on August 23, 2019. The ‘Hong Kong Way’ protest saw thousands of demonstrators all across Hong Kong and Hong Kong Island holding hands to form a miles-long human chain. The protest was inspired by and took place on the 30th anniversary of the ‘Baltic Way’ protest in which over 2 million people in Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania formed a 675.5-mile long human chain in protest of the Soviet Union.

Nearly 2 million people flood the streets of Hong Kong Island as they march from Victoria Park to Wan Chai during a protest against police brutality and the extradition bill on August 18, 2019.

Pro-democracy protesters hold signs during a march in Kwun Tong against police surveillance and the introduction of ‘smart light poles’ which use facial recognition technology on August 24, 2019. The march later turned into a stand-off with riot police and led to heavy clashes throughout the night.

Protesters occupying Yeung Long Metro Station shine high powered laser pointers at a man who expressed pro-Chinese sentiments and argued with pro-democracy protesters during a sit-in protest held at the Yeung Long Station on August 21, 2019. The protest was held on the week anniversary of when masked men wielding clubs and bats assaulted pro-democracy protesters at Yeung Long Station, many protesters believe the men were thugs hired by the government to intimidate the protesters.

A pro-democracy protester hurls a tear gas canister back at riot police during a violent confrontation between police and protesters in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019. What had began as a march to protest surveillance and facial recognition technology in Hong Kong resulted in a tense stand-off between police and protesters and ultimately culminated in a night of heavy clashes.

A pro-democracy protester holds a sign while attending a sit-in with other protesters at Yeung Long Station on August 21, 2019. The sit-in was organized to coincide with the one week anniversary of the beatings of protesters at the hands of masked men wielding bats and pipes at Yueng Long Station. Protesters occupied the building and faced off with police for several hours before fleeing on trains that MTR workers had reserved for them.

A pro-democracy protester shouts angrily at a police van as it drives by during a protest in Hung Hom on August 17, 2019. In the week following pro-democracy protesters occupying the Hong Kong Airport there was a lull that saw fewer violent clashes between police and protesters, however, after a clash in Kwun Tong, violence resumed.

A police officer washes out a protester’s eyes after she was sprayed point blank with pepper spray during heavy clashes between police and protesters in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019. Police expended hundreds of tear gas canisters as they fought to push the protesters back up Wai Yip Street.

A pro-democracy protester marches with thousands of other protesters during a teacher’s march in Hung Hom against the extradition bill on August 17, 2019. Protesters shouted at police officers who lingered in vans nearby however, the police and protesters kept their respective distance.

Several police officers retreat briefly after being outnumbered and beat by protesters wielding bats, iron rods, and fire extinguishers during a violent clash in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019. Following a tense standoff between police and pro-democracy protesters, police in riot gear fired tear gas and pepper balls at protesters and then engaged in a brutal fight with anything they could get their hands on.

Pro-democracy protesters try to push forward towards police under a hail of tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, and pepper ball rounds during heavy clashes with police in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019.

A man shouts ‘Free Hong Kong!’ from a overhead walkway as hundreds of thousands of protesters make their way from Victoria Park to Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island on August 18, 2019. Over 1 million people flooded the streets of Hong Kong Island to protest police brutality and the extradition bill only days after protesters had occupied the Hong Kong Airport.

A woman walks past a spray painted slogan reading ‘If We Burn You Will Burn With Us!’ at the Kowloon Bay Metro Station on August 24, 2019. After heavy clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters, sporadic clashes and protests sparked up as protesters scattered around Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong.

A police officer fires a tear gas canister at pro-democracy protesters during heavy clashes in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019.

A pro-democracy protester peers over a makeshift barricade at advancing riot police during a heavy clash in Kwun Tong on August 24, 2019.

A woman looks into a crowd of thousands gathering in Victoria Park preparing to march through the streets of Hong Kong Island on August 18, 2019. The protest would grow to over 1 million people despite heavy rains, the mass of protesters marched against police brutality and the extradition bill.

As the rain pours down, a man stands in the street as over 1 million people begin to take to the streets near Victoria Park and Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island to protest police brutality and the extradition bill on August 18, 2019.