Old News: Hong Kong’s ‘gray hairs’ march in support of young protesters

A group of elderly people march to the government headquarters in Hong Kong yesterday in solidarity with the city’s young anti-government protesters. Photo via AFP
A group of elderly people march to the government headquarters in Hong Kong yesterday in solidarity with the city’s young anti-government protesters. Photo via AFP

Thousands of Hong Kong residents of, ahem, a certain age took to the streets on Wednesday as the city’s elderly made a show of their solidarity with youth-led anti-government protesters.

The so-called “gray hair march” was billed as a way to show the city’s pro-Beijing leadership that plenty of its older and more reliably conservative citizens still support the mostly younger demonstrators.

Hong Kong has been rocked by more than a month of huge and largely peaceful protests — as well as a series of separate violent confrontations with police — sparked by a law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.

Last month, parliament was trashed by hundreds of masked, youth-led protesters in unprecedented scenes.

The bill has since been suspended, but that has done little to quell public anger, with the protest movement evolving to encompass calls for broader democratic reforms, universal suffrage, and a halt to sliding freedoms enjoyed under the “one country, two systems” framework.

Some of the most violent clashes occurred on Sunday when riot police battled protesters hurling projectiles inside a luxury mall. Some 28 people were injured, including 10 officers.

Long lines of older demonstrators snaked through the city’s streets in tropical heat, a powerful display in a culture where respect for one’s elders remains paramount.

One carried a sign saying: “Young people, Dad has come out.”

Others wrote messages on protest walls outside parliament. “Kids, you are not alone,” one read.

Kitty Shek, a 55-year-old retiree, said she believed her generation did not do enough to confront sliding freedoms in the city since it was handed back to Beijing in 1997.

“The elderly have come to realize that, before now, our generation just let the government do whatever they want,” she told AFP. “Now, the young people remind us that we should not be silent any more.”

But there is still plenty of support for the pro-Beijing leaders among more elderly inhabitants.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in solidarity with the police last month — a noticeably older crowd than the recent anti-government demonstrations.

Many hurled insults at younger protesters, scuffling with them and waving Chinese flags.

Under the 1997 handover deal with the British, China promised to allow Hong Kong to keep key liberties such as its independent judiciary and rights like freedom of speech.

But many say that 50-year deal is already being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians, and the jailing of democracy protest leaders.

Authorities have also resisted calls for the city’s leader to be directly elected by the people.



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