7 ms·

Hong Kong Protestors Take over Universities and Financial District

89 points by lawrenceyan 7y ago

red2awn 7y ago
The bigger news is the police attacked an university in Hong Kong. Thousands of rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets were fired.
- justicezyx 7y ago
  Wow, HK police, backed from Chinese gov, is desperate to attach an university! WTF are they thinking? Why provoke students in campus... No idea what's going on. PS: I am shocked by this activity. Even during the communism revolution, the government has left the university intact. The HK policy lost their mind...
  - naringas 7y ago
    mainland China is teaching HK how the world actually works. might makes right. (economic 'prosperity' for the masses is a form of might, but so is violence)
  - simlevesque 7y ago
    HK police are PLA soldiers.
    - neonIcon 7y ago
      Exactly this. There was a video released yesterday on the HK subreddit showing what seemed to be a special unit of "police" who bore no badges or any identification past riot shields emblazoned with "police" at the university. These dudes looked huge compared to everyone else there.
      - p_l 7y ago
        China uses the same "Ministry of Interior Armed Forces" system as Soviet Union did. They are kept separate from PLA so that they can be the thugs without contaminating real army, and the popular opinion follows on this. So I suspect it's all interior forces, not PLA.
  - flyingfences 7y ago
    I've heard theories that they were after HK's main internet exchange, which is hosted on the campus. I'm not so sure that's a priority for them. I'd be more inclined to believe a "control of academia" angle - to put a limit on "credible" reports and opinions from HK. The real aim was probably the students. Public perception, especially among the mainland camp, is that this is mostly a youth protest (but from what I've heard, it's far from solely a youth protest). Back in August, they were all saying that the protests would die down and fizzle out once the semester started (which obviously didn't end up happening). In their eyes, the educated youth are the ones "driving" the protests. In their eyes, taking and suppressing the university would be a strike at the core of the pro-HK movement. That didn't work, and now their move is backfiring into further publicity and support for Hong Kong.
- mortenjorck 7y ago
  WSJ’s editorial staff must really want to avoid upsetting anyone in the CCP. Following tweets from people on the ground, like AFP correspondent Xinqi Su (https://twitter.com/xinqisu https://twitter.com/xinqisu), Quartz reporter Mary Hui (https://twitter.com/maryhui https://twitter.com/maryhui), academic researcher on networked protests Zeynep Tufekci (https://twitter.com/zeynep https://twitter.com/zeynep), or quite surprisingly Pinboard founder Maciej Ceglowski (https://twitter.com/pinboard https://twitter.com/pinboard), paint a starkly different picture from the article.
- homarp 7y ago
  as http://www.hkix.net/hkix/whatishkix.htm http://www.hkix.net/hkix/whatishkix.htm indicates, CUHK hosts Hong Kong Internet exchange (HKiX).
- 8bitsrule 7y ago
  History note: The US was tear-gassing universities over 50 years ago. From helicopters.
nemo44x 7y ago
Protesting and other symbols of resistance are fine but it won't change anything until they form an insurgency. If they are serious about change it will take a violent course of actions to make it happen. Kosovo wouldn't have become an independent country if it weren't for citizens arming themselves and waging a guerrilla insurgency against their enemies.This of course means many thousands will have to die.
- Simon_says 7y ago
  How on Earth would that work without guns?
  - nemo44x 7y ago
    They need to begin by finding sympathizers that will smuggle weapons into the country for them. As a resistance begins the enemy is sure to create an atrocity which will inspire many people to fight and make for foreign (and native who live abroad) sympathizers to fund and smuggle weapons into the area to equip the forces.
    - benologist 7y ago
      China's proven incapable of stopping, preventing or outlawing peaceful resistance so why would the populace invite them to a gun fight?
      - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        One of these days, China is likely to bring the gun fight to the peaceful resistance. The question is, does the peaceful resistance want to be on the receiving end of a massacre, or do they want to have a gun fight? (Note well: It is unclear to me what the right answer is, either from the point of view of achieving political goals, or even from the point of view of minimizing the number of casualties.)
        benologist 7y ago
daodedickinson 7y ago
Still incredibly pessimistic that Hong Kongers could somehow win a war for independence... or that anything short of that could win a future of safety for these "protestors" Just last night I felt guilty for buying something made in China but still did it again... and there certainly wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf
- flyingfences 7y ago
  I think the aim at this point is not to win outright independence, but to re-secure the autonomy that they are accustomed to and ride it out until the Communist mainland government collapses. (Which may or may not happen...)
- tossAfterUsing 7y ago
  > wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf was it a needed thing or a wanted thing? if the former, consider making it yourself & selling it as a not-from-china product
camgunz 7y ago
Yeah this POV is totally backwards. HKPF attempted to arrest students in university dorms, and HK protestors stopped them. HKPF fired over 2500 rounds of tear gas, enough to kill birds flying overhead. Disappointing to see such a CCP-friendly skew from a venerable American journalism outfit (maybe that's being too generous these days though).
- xwolfi 7y ago
  Dude it's not so straight. First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction, second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there (I remind you they are more lethal than tear gas round) and third this standoff produce 0 positive effect in retrospect. I'm all for opposing our communist overlords, but they might not be convinced to listen if we hurl molotov and cry at birds rather than show a reasonable front, which is what ended the extradition law in the first place.
  - neonIcon 7y ago
    Not sure what fantasy land you live in but it is far from ended.. Do you really think the CCP won't eventually ram it through?
  - camgunz 7y ago
    > First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction Right but you need a warrant, which the police did not have and never got, because they weren't there to arrest anyone in particular, because they had no cause, because this is a terror tactic. > second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there It's real easy to build a molotov, especially if you have a bunch of protestors working in an assembly line. Which is fortunate, because that's probably the only thing that kept the cops from arresting scores of innocent students to be beaten and raped in jail. People have the right to defend themselves. HKPF are genuinely a threat to Hongkongers and have lost all legitimacy. It's a true tragedy, but the time for excuses and apologists is past.
- 7y ago
djvu9 7y ago
This headline is completely misleading. Those who "took over" the universities are the students who actually LIVE there. And those who "took over" the financial district are people who work there: they just protest downstairs during their lunch time. You don't take over your home or office because you f*king own it.
neonIcon 7y ago
My understanding is that the HK Internet exchange for Hong Kong is hosted at the university. Would taking that down black out Hong Kong?
- iudqnolq 7y ago
  Presumably cables go into and out of the exchange and could be disrupted at a number of easier to access points. Others say they want to install surveillance hardware but if the Chinese government had that kind of hardware lying around wouldn't they have installed it before the protests?
hirundo 7y ago
These protests show the pros and cons of colonialism. Con, in that Hong Kong's differences from the mainland are the fuel for this deadly conflict. Pro, in that these differences are behind this island becoming one of the most productive spots on Earth. The flourishing of these people would likely not have happened had Britain not leased it for 99 years. Even if China obliterates the difference, it has been irreversibly infected by the ideologies of the colonist. What would the world look like if we could dial back the level of colonialism over the last 2k years? Hong Kong makes a case for such cross-pollination as a human accelerant.
opinionhk 7y ago
May I suggest your guys to take a look this interview "Will violence kill Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement? | Conflict Zone" over YouTube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nNeO0yWyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nNeO0yWyk
adultSwim 7y ago
If we did any of this in the US, we would all be shot.

89 points by lawrenceyan 7y ago

The bigger news is the police attacked an university in Hong Kong. Thousands of rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets were fired.

justicezyx 7y ago
Wow, HK police, backed from Chinese gov, is desperate to attach an university! WTF are they thinking? Why provoke students in campus... No idea what's going on. PS: I am shocked by this activity. Even during the communism revolution, the government has left the university intact. The HK policy lost their mind...
- naringas 7y ago
  mainland China is teaching HK how the world actually works. might makes right. (economic 'prosperity' for the masses is a form of might, but so is violence)
- simlevesque 7y ago
  HK police are PLA soldiers.
  - neonIcon 7y ago
    Exactly this. There was a video released yesterday on the HK subreddit showing what seemed to be a special unit of "police" who bore no badges or any identification past riot shields emblazoned with "police" at the university. These dudes looked huge compared to everyone else there.
    - p_l 7y ago
      China uses the same "Ministry of Interior Armed Forces" system as Soviet Union did. They are kept separate from PLA so that they can be the thugs without contaminating real army, and the popular opinion follows on this. So I suspect it's all interior forces, not PLA.
- flyingfences 7y ago
  I've heard theories that they were after HK's main internet exchange, which is hosted on the campus. I'm not so sure that's a priority for them. I'd be more inclined to believe a "control of academia" angle - to put a limit on "credible" reports and opinions from HK. The real aim was probably the students. Public perception, especially among the mainland camp, is that this is mostly a youth protest (but from what I've heard, it's far from solely a youth protest). Back in August, they were all saying that the protests would die down and fizzle out once the semester started (which obviously didn't end up happening). In their eyes, the educated youth are the ones "driving" the protests. In their eyes, taking and suppressing the university would be a strike at the core of the pro-HK movement. That didn't work, and now their move is backfiring into further publicity and support for Hong Kong.
mortenjorck 7y ago
WSJ’s editorial staff must really want to avoid upsetting anyone in the CCP. Following tweets from people on the ground, like AFP correspondent Xinqi Su (https://twitter.com/xinqisu https://twitter.com/xinqisu), Quartz reporter Mary Hui (https://twitter.com/maryhui https://twitter.com/maryhui), academic researcher on networked protests Zeynep Tufekci (https://twitter.com/zeynep https://twitter.com/zeynep), or quite surprisingly Pinboard founder Maciej Ceglowski (https://twitter.com/pinboard https://twitter.com/pinboard), paint a starkly different picture from the article.
homarp 7y ago
as http://www.hkix.net/hkix/whatishkix.htm http://www.hkix.net/hkix/whatishkix.htm indicates, CUHK hosts Hong Kong Internet exchange (HKiX).
8bitsrule 7y ago
History note: The US was tear-gassing universities over 50 years ago. From helicopters.

nemo44x 7y ago

Protesting and other symbols of resistance are fine but it won't change anything until they form an insurgency. If they are serious about change it will take a violent course of actions to make it happen. Kosovo wouldn't have become an independent country if it weren't for citizens arming themselves and waging a guerrilla insurgency against their enemies.This of course means many thousands will have to die.

Simon_says 7y ago
How on Earth would that work without guns?
- nemo44x 7y ago
  They need to begin by finding sympathizers that will smuggle weapons into the country for them. As a resistance begins the enemy is sure to create an atrocity which will inspire many people to fight and make for foreign (and native who live abroad) sympathizers to fund and smuggle weapons into the area to equip the forces.
  - benologist 7y ago
    China's proven incapable of stopping, preventing or outlawing peaceful resistance so why would the populace invite them to a gun fight?
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      One of these days, China is likely to bring the gun fight to the peaceful resistance. The question is, does the peaceful resistance want to be on the receiving end of a massacre, or do they want to have a gun fight? (Note well: It is unclear to me what the right answer is, either from the point of view of achieving political goals, or even from the point of view of minimizing the number of casualties.)
      - benologist 7y ago

daodedickinson 7y ago

Still incredibly pessimistic that Hong Kongers could somehow win a war for independence... or that anything short of that could win a future of safety for these "protestors" Just last night I felt guilty for buying something made in China but still did it again... and there certainly wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf

flyingfences 7y ago
I think the aim at this point is not to win outright independence, but to re-secure the autonomy that they are accustomed to and ride it out until the Communist mainland government collapses. (Which may or may not happen...)
tossAfterUsing 7y ago
> wasn't an alternative made anywhere else on the shelf was it a needed thing or a wanted thing? if the former, consider making it yourself & selling it as a not-from-china product

camgunz 7y ago

Yeah this POV is totally backwards. HKPF attempted to arrest students in university dorms, and HK protestors stopped them. HKPF fired over 2500 rounds of tear gas, enough to kill birds flying overhead. Disappointing to see such a CCP-friendly skew from a venerable American journalism outfit (maybe that's being too generous these days though).

xwolfi 7y ago
Dude it's not so straight. First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction, second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there (I remind you they are more lethal than tear gas round) and third this standoff produce 0 positive effect in retrospect. I'm all for opposing our communist overlords, but they might not be convinced to listen if we hurl molotov and cry at birds rather than show a reasonable front, which is what ended the extradition law in the first place.
- neonIcon 7y ago
  Not sure what fantasy land you live in but it is far from ended.. Do you really think the CCP won't eventually ram it through?
- camgunz 7y ago
  > First our universities aren't somehow in an ephemeral plane absent of any police jurisdiction Right but you need a warrant, which the police did not have and never got, because they weren't there to arrest anyone in particular, because they had no cause, because this is a terror tactic. > second it seems the number of petrol bombs (I heard 400) was enormous pointing to some large capacity being built up there It's real easy to build a molotov, especially if you have a bunch of protestors working in an assembly line. Which is fortunate, because that's probably the only thing that kept the cops from arresting scores of innocent students to be beaten and raped in jail. People have the right to defend themselves. HKPF are genuinely a threat to Hongkongers and have lost all legitimacy. It's a true tragedy, but the time for excuses and apologists is past.
7y ago

djvu9 7y ago

This headline is completely misleading. Those who "took over" the universities are the students who actually LIVE there. And those who "took over" the financial district are people who work there: they just protest downstairs during their lunch time. You don't take over your home or office because you f*king own it.

neonIcon 7y ago

My understanding is that the HK Internet exchange for Hong Kong is hosted at the university. Would taking that down black out Hong Kong?

iudqnolq 7y ago
Presumably cables go into and out of the exchange and could be disrupted at a number of easier to access points. Others say they want to install surveillance hardware but if the Chinese government had that kind of hardware lying around wouldn't they have installed it before the protests?

hirundo 7y ago

These protests show the pros and cons of colonialism. Con, in that Hong Kong's differences from the mainland are the fuel for this deadly conflict. Pro, in that these differences are behind this island becoming one of the most productive spots on Earth. The flourishing of these people would likely not have happened had Britain not leased it for 99 years. Even if China obliterates the difference, it has been irreversibly infected by the ideologies of the colonist. What would the world look like if we could dial back the level of colonialism over the last 2k years? Hong Kong makes a case for such cross-pollination as a human accelerant.

opinionhk 7y ago

May I suggest your guys to take a look this interview "Will violence kill Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement? | Conflict Zone" over YouTube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nNeO0yWyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nNeO0yWyk

adultSwim 7y ago

If we did any of this in the US, we would all be shot.