Five months ago, people panicked when waves of protests washed from one neighbourhood to another across Hong Kong, and especially when the MTR and other public transport services stopped abruptly.
Today, clashes between protesters and police are a given. People check protest schedules, MTR and bus schedules, and plan their day accordingly. Protests are the new normal.
It was brought home to me on
Halloween, a night of violent protests. At the nearby Mong Kok Pets Central Hospital at the corner of Soy and Shanghai streets, the hospital waiting room was busy, where during earlier protests in Mong Kok, it had been empty. At around 8pm, when I left the hospital,
I smelled tear gas and saw a convoy of police vans, lights flashing, sirens wailing, hurrying to deal with protesters firebombing Mong Kok MTR station two blocks away and lighting fires on Nathan Road.When protests began in Mong Kok a few months before, all the shops on Shanghai Street and nearby side streets were closed, the street deserted, and public transport impossible. Now, all the stores on Shanghai Street were open. People calmly came off Nathan Road and entered side-street restaurants, or bought from the food stalls, or headed to Yau Ma Tei MTR station. People around me were looking at their mobile phones, probably looking for public transport options. It was as if nothing was happening a couple of blocks away.
More recently, the city erupted in anger after a
student died of injuries sustained during a police clear-up operation in Tseung Kwan O.
A day after, some protesters set a man on fire for questioning them, and elsewhere, a policeman shot a protester.
That day, despite having to work around protesters and riot police, I made my lunch appointment in Central on time. People around me were either looking at their phones or stopping to take pictures of the demonstration.
After lunch, I headed for my physio appointment on Pottinger Street and came up against protesters fleeing the police and tear gas. I ducked into a nearby building to escape the fumes and was 10 minutes late for my appointment.
Protests, peaceful or violent, are now a Hong Kong way of life. Walking past armed police officers and the special tactical squad known as
raptors in MTR stations or shopping malls has become common. People can check various apps to find out when and where protests are taking place, and the availability of public transport, down to MTR trains and stations.
Government
paralysis and incompetence are also universally accepted, the only questions being when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor will
resign or be removed, and whether the
District Council elections scheduled for November 24 will take place. The government could cancel elections on the pretext of concern for violence against candidates and polling stations, but more likely out of concern that pro-democracy candidates would win. Calling off the elections could spark more violence.
How this situation evolves and what the future holds remain to be seen. Some Hongkongers are optimistic, having been in similar situations before – the Red Guards-inspired communist
riots in 1967, Hong Kong losing its industrial base in the 1980s as factories and production facilities shifted to the mainland, the panic before the 1997 handover, the
Sars epidemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome. They have seen, each time, Hong Kong bounce back with renewed energy.
Hongkongers are not yet
emigrating in the numbers predicted by many analysts. To a good number, the protests are just another bump in Hong Kong’s unique passage to greater prosperity, which is, at times, bumpier than others.
Thus, while tourism-dependent operations such as restaurants, retail shops are taking a
hammering and the stock market is going up and down, the barometer of confidence in Hong Kong, the property prices, are
holding steady. So, do not panic and plan your Christmas shopping.
Peter G. de Krassel is a strategic analyst, contemporary social commentator, and author of the Custom Maid series of books and blogs. [email protected]
