Strikes, class boycotts and ‘picnics’: how ordinary people across Hong Kong are mobilising to take action against extradition bill

More than 2,000 counsellors, carers and therapists from 50 social work organisations and religious groups are expected to take part in strike

Debate on the unpopular bill resumes in the legislature on Wednesday

Reading Time:4 minutes

Residents and legislators surround police at an MTR station to question why they are stopping and searching people on Tuesday night. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:00am, 12 Jun 2019Updated: 9:49am, 12 Jun 2019

Hundreds of cabin crew and airline employees have set up an encrypted message group to talk about how to take their opposition to the extradition bill forward.

On Tuesday, they launched a petition calling on their unions to organise a strike against the government for pressing ahead with the bill despite the record numbers who voiced their anger against it on Sunday.

“It would be good enough if each of us plays our part in doing what we think is right,” one of them wrote.

In a separate channel made up of secondary school students – mostly strangers to one another – questions flowed back and forth about the logistics of organising a strike.

The masses took to the streets on Sunday but the government has vowed to push ahead with its bill. Photo: Edmond So

“Does anyone in Tseung Kwan O have ribbons? I would like to dish them out at school tomorrow,” a member wrote.

At a busy junction in Causeway Bay, a young man handed out self-made, black-and-white A4-size leaflets to office workers and mainland tourists, urging them to go on strike when the debate on the unpopular bill resumed in the legislature on Wednesday.