Edward Leung faces long spell in jail as lessons learned from Mong Kok riot show Hongkongers ‘only hurt themselves with violent protests’
Two years on from the confrontation and those arrested have been punished with stiff prison sentences. Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy says the incident has changed the city’s political landscape forever
Locals and tourists alike wander up and down the streets, checking out the latest gizmos and trendiest sports shoes in store. Others jostle for street snacks, everything from fish balls to stinky tofu before heading to the cinemas nearby to catch the latest blockbuster.
Late into the night and the wee hours of the next morning, hundreds of protesters clashed with police in a frenzy of violence, the likes of which the city had not seen in decades.
In what Beijing’s then top official in Hong Kong went on to call an act of “terrorism”, bricks were ripped out of pavements and thrown at police, a taxi was lit and overturned, tyre fires were set off and the stench of burning rubber filled the air.
By the time order was restored, a total of 91 people had been arrested. And the city was about to change politically, forever.