Hong Kong’s anti-extradition campaign, which has gripped the city with a string of mass protests and civil disobedience campaigns since early June, has generally been fueled by widespread public support, including for more radical actions including storming official buildings and the use of force to protect against police violence.
With no top-down chain of command and no obvious leaders, the movement has adopted the motto “Be Water,” as well as the philosophy that everyone has their own way of climbing a mountain, and that different styles of resistance are equally valid.
The group of gas-masked, black-shirted young people throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks and water bottles at police and scrawling “Reclaim Hong Kong! Revolution in our time!” and obscenities targeting the police on official buildings has become known as a distinct group offrontline protesters who have their own supply lines, tactics and consensus about when to stay and when to leave the scene of clashes.
A frontline protester identified only by his nickname A Tsung spoke to RFA about his experiences on the front line of the anti-extradition movement:
RFA: What made you take part in the anti-extradition movement?
A Tsung: Justice, democracy and freedom are our universal values. Freedom and human rights will always be closest to everyone’s hearts while we are on this planet. We can’t allow dictators to wipe out those places that are still free. That’s why I decided to come out andfight.
RFA: This isn’t your first protest movement, is it? You were involved in the campaign against China’s plans for patriotic education in Hong Kong’s schools in 2012, weren’t you?
A Tsung: We blame the older generation for not fighting harder for democracy on our behalf prior to the 1997 handover [to China]. We are even more determined to fight for democracy for the next generation. We’re not fighting for ourselves: we’re fighting for democracy forthose who come after us.
RFA: You were actually hit by a rubber bullet, during the July 27 march to reclaim Yuen Long after triad-linked attacks there, weren’t you? What happened?
A Tsung: Basically I don’t think I would have gotten injured if I had retreated. But there were some riot police chasing a couple of young women, who were so terrified they had stopped running. A lot of peoplewould have left the scene at that point, but I decided to go in and drag them out of there, knowing that I would likely get hit.
As soon as the riot police saw me, they whipped out their rifles and fired at me, trying to scare me, so I got hit.
RFA: How badly were you hurt?
A Tsung: After I got hit, I couldn’t be on the front line any more because my foot was hurt and I couldn’t move it. I was miserable, because couldn’t be on the front lines or help anyone else, so I felt useless.
I still wanted to do what was right, but if I saw someone hurt, I wouldn’t be able to do anything to help them. That made me so sad.
RFA: What are your current political views?
A Tsung: That a government can and should only exist because of the people. Without the people, what kind of a government are they? We have had our basic rights stripped and forcibly taken away from us since we were born. Why shouldn’t we try to get them back? Whyshouldn’t I use my power to fight for freedom? Why should I put my trust in this dictatorship; in this imperialistic concept of the law?
RFA: Towards the end of each protest there is typically a discussion about whether or not to leave, and there is usually someone saying ‘we have to be water,’ and someone else crying and saying that they’re ready to die then and there. Is there a limit to how far front-line protesters will go?
A Tsung: Whenever I charge, it’s usually with a sense of determination that I have to stop these people from doing something. I give no thought whatsoever to the consequences. I am willing to do absolutely anything for freedom, not for myself, but for the whole of Hong Kong. I am willing to pay for freedom with my own blood.
Reported by Tseng Yat-yiu and Lu Xi for RFA’s Cantonese and Mandarin Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
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