George Floyd death: why Hongkongers are divided over lessons from American unrest

Scenes of US streets engulfed by tear gas have led many to compare the protests with those in Hong Kong

Pro-Beijing figures say the Trump administration should fix its domestic issues before pointing fingers at Hong Kong but opposition activists disagree

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Police push back protesters near the White House during a demonstration against George Floyd’s death. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:45am, 4 Jun 2020Updated: 6:59am, 4 Jun 2020

Just blocks from where Hongkonger Eric Cheung lives, protesters have in the past few days taken to the streets and clashed with police officers, as looters vandalised shops and traffic ground to a halt.

Cheung, 23, is not in Hong Kong. He is in Chicago, with a front-row seat to the mass protests that have gripped the United States since the death of George Floyd, a black man who last month died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, sparked demonstrations across the country.

“There might be some similarities in all protests across the world, but I must say protests are more extreme here compared with those in Hong Kong, both in participation scale and violence level, while the police’s handling has been more forceful too,” the emigrant accountant said in a phone interview.

Following the May 25 death of Floyd, peaceful demonstrations often degenerated into violent protests, prompting police to respond with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray.

Scenes of US streets engulfed by tear gas – as happened in Hong Kong after the anti-government protest movement erupted in June last year – have led many to compare the demonstrations between the two places.

A protester uses a tennis racket to return a tear-gas canister in Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

At least five people have been killed in the US unrest, and more than 4,400 arrested. Journalists have complained about assaults and arrests while covering the protests, while a CNN crew was last week detained during a live broadcast before being released about an hour later.