A tipping point in Hong Kong?
The situation in Hong Kong is as volatile as it has ever been, as every day of the past week has brought fresh, violent clashes between protesters and police. This is the first time that the upheaval has not slowed during a single weekday. Two significant police actions ensured this: A second protester was shot by police with live bullets on November 11, as we covered last week. Police laid siege to university campuses, which had previously been treated as safe havens.
Photo credit: Protesters throw molotov cocktails at an armed police vehicle at the edge of Hong Kong Polytechnic University on November 17 / Getty images
The situation in Hong Kong is as volatile as it has ever been, as every day of the past week has brought fresh, violent clashes between protesters and police. This is the first time that the upheaval has not slowed during a single weekday. Two significant police actions ensured this:
- A second protester was shot by policeย with live bullets on November 11, as we covered last week.
- Police laid siege to university campuses, which had previously been treated as safe havens. We donโt mean โlaid siegeโ figuratively, either: Pitched battles over bridges connecting campuses to the city literally looked like medieval battles, and at one point, police surroundedย the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) as if it were a military target. Multiple colleges canceled classes for the rest of the semester.
โ[I]tโs felt like weโre at some type of tipping pointย since Wednesday. Whatโs happening right now is simply unsustainable,โ writesย the anonymous Hong Kongโbased scholar behind the Being Water newsletter.
It may only get worse from here: The government appears dead-set on restoring order by force, rather than by any political resolution.
- โStopping violence, controlling chaos, and restoring orderย are Hong Kongโs most urgent duties,โ Xรญ Jรฌnpรญng ไน ่ฟๅนณ said on November 14 (English, Chinese). These unusually public comments on the situation from the Chinese leader were featured on state media more prominently than any previous coverage of Hong Kong. A deluge of propaganda articles followed, calling for more arrests and stricter punishments for protesters.
- The Hong Kong government repeated the sentiment, saying that the most โurgent taskโ is to stop violence before the District Council elections on November 24 โ or else the elections may be postponed, RTHK reports.
If you need a refresherย on where the protests started, what the protesters want, and how a chasm of trust developed between the police and the Hong Kong public, we have published a new explainer on The China Project.
