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Hong Kong protests
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong: a city locked in stalemate with no end in sight

  • Six months after the first mass rally over the ill-fated extradition bill, Hong Kong remains in turmoil
  • What happens if Hong Kong leader and Beijing choose to ­simply stand still and continue waiting for the storm to pass?

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Protests have caused major disruptions across Hong Kong for six months. Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen
Gary Cheung

Six months after Hong Kong ­began its season of discontent, with mass protests, street violence and crippling disruptions, there is still no indication as to how it will end, or when.

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The so-called leaderless ­revolution that has wreaked such havoc across the city – on main roads and side streets, at the ­airport and metro stations, in shopping malls and on university campuses – is not finished yet.

There was a respite of two weeks around the landmark ­November 24 district council elections, which swept aside ­pro-establishment candidates and installed pan-democratic majorities from the opposition in 17 out of 18 districts, a stunning reversal attributed to the months of protests and voters’ deep dissatisfaction with the government.

But radical protesters and their supporters were out again on December 1, clashing with ­police and driving home the ­message that they would not be satisfied until all their demands were met.

The movement scored a ­success when the government withdrew its detested extradition bill that triggered the protests in June over fears that fugitives might be sent to the mainland, as well as other jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has no official transfer arrangement.

But the protest movement wants more, especially a commission of inquiry into allegations of police brutality, and beyond that, universal suffrage for the city.

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Clashes erupt between anti-government protesters and riot police on the campus of Chinese University in Sha Tin on November 12. Photo: Winson Wong
Clashes erupt between anti-government protesters and riot police on the campus of Chinese University in Sha Tin on November 12. Photo: Winson Wong
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is in no haste to satisfy these and other demands, which she has repeatedly dismissed as unrealistic. After the pro-establishment camp’s near-total rout at the recent polls, she acknowledged the people had ­indeed spoken, but seems determined to do little else.
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