Hong Kong’s weeks-long protest campaign against a controversial extradition bill escalated to unprecedented levels yesterday, with thousands of unruly demonstrators laying siege to the city’s Legislative Council, breaking windows, storming the building, defacing the parliamentary chamber, and ultimately squaring off with riot police in a late-night showdown.
However, even if the outright destructiveness on display was more extreme than many people were comfortable with, it doesn’t appear to have been enough to cost protesters the general approval of the public. Several everyday Hongkongers (and a Taiwanese tourist) asked to rate their support of the demonstrators by Coconuts HK today said that even if they were disappointed by the aggressive tactics, they still supported the protesters.
“The indifference by the government in recent events is what causes the anger among Hong Kong people,” said one student, who gave his name as Ho and rejected the notion that protesters had gone too far in storming the LegCo.
“It was the government who pushed the people to take their actions to the next level, and we can’t really blame the protesters for being desperate.”
Ho added that the degree to which he supported the protesters — which he put at eight on a scale of one to 10 — was unchanged by last night’s events.
Yoyo Lam, a university student, said that since no one was severely injured or killed during yesterday’s rampage, the protest was not “too violent,” rating her support for the demonstrators at seven on the 10-point scale.
“The shamelessness of the government has no limit — why blame the people for crossing the line?” she shrugged. “If [Chief Executive] Carrie Lam had listened to the people then this would not have happened.”
Another young woman, who asked not to be identified, said that even though she disapproved of the destruction at the LegCo, she too would rate her support for the protesters at a seven.
“Yes, I think the protesters crossed the line by vandalizing the LegCo complex. It was an important facility, and people should be protecting it instead of destroying it.”
Nonetheless, she thought Lam had been insincere in responding to the people’s demands, and felt that she and other Hongkongers had been wronged.
“[Lam] still thinks she hasn’t done anything wrong, and is the victim in recent events,” she said. “She should do some reflection before coming out and see how to please the people, otherwise the protests will never stop.”
Even older residents today were hesitant to place the blame for yesterday’s chaos squarely at the feet of protesters.
A retired teacher, surnamed Wong, said she found protesters to be too impulsive, adding that yesterday’s events had put a dent in her support for the movement, but hadn’t erased it altogether
“These people had lost their mind,” she said. “Attacking the LegCo was not effective, and will only put them in danger.”
While her support of the protesters before yesterday would have hovered around a nine, Wong said today it had dropped to a six or seven thanks to protesters “forgetting their original intentions.”
“There is no way we can rationalize the uncontrolled situation last night,” she said. “What if they target the Government House next? And would they just hunt down all the government buildings and vandalize them?”
Still, she too said at least some of the blame was the government’s, saying officials “did not respond, did not even mention the protesters’ demands.”
Meanwhile, a tourist from Taiwan who gave his name as Li said he had been following the developments in Hong Kong, and saw parallels between recent events and the 2014 occupation of the legislature in Taiwan, noting that sometimes the more radical protests were the effective ones.
“Hong Kong people had adopted a peaceful way at the beginning,” he pointed out, rating his support for the protesters at a seven or eight. “I found that conflicts would always slowly escalate when [the issue] was not solved.”
The only person interviewed by Coconuts HK today who said yesterday’s destruction had cost the protesters their support was a housewife, surnamed Hui, who said she was disappointed that protesters had crossed the line last night.
“People should remain calm in any rational demonstrations, and they should not undermine social order and the rule of law,” she said, adding that she was even more troubled by the fact that they had decided to besiege the LegCo, which she considered a symbol of the rule of law in Hong Kong. “Such ferocious tactics adopted by the protesters last night is only lowering the chances of getting people to support them.”
Hui also blamed the government for doing too little to ease tensions, rating her support for the demonstrators after yesterday’s clashes a five, while noting that she still believed the protesters’ cause was worth supporting if they used peaceful means.
“The government should try and make peace with the protesters to actually solve the problem,” she said.
