Hong Kong Lennon Walls visit Battery Park
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Traveling “Lennon Walls” created
by young Hong Kongers were set
up in Battery Park on Sat., Aug.
31.
The freestanding portable cardboard
walls have been placed in parks around
the city, allowing passersby to leave colorful
post-its with words of support for
Hong Kong democracy activists, who
are entering their 13th week of protests
in the semiautonomous region.
A portable Lennon Wall made stints
in Washington Square Park, Bryant
Park and Times Square earlier this
month. As more young Hong Kongers
wishing to do their part to help friends
and family back home learned about
the effort, more walls were created.
On Sat., Aug. 24, three Lennon Walls
were set up in Union Square Park. In
Battery Park, seven stood in front of the
Castle Clinton National Monument.
“Sometimes I feel desperate because
I can’t help things in Hong Kong,” said
Tse Fei, a 29-year-old Hong Konger. Fei
had to stop taking part in protests when
he arrived in the city in early August for
an artist-in-residency program.
“Sometimes I regret coming to New
York,” he said, feeling he should be
back lending his efforts to the cause.
But Fei has found some solace in
Seven portable Lennon Walls were brought to Battery Park on Sat.,
Aug. 31. The walls are being displayed in parks around the city to allow
Hong Kongers to show their support for protesters and to help
educate New Yorkers about the mass protests in Hong Kong.
spending his free time helping with the
portable Lennon Walls. Under the blazing
sun, he stood next to the walls and
passed out business cards with information
on the Hong Kong Human Rights
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
and Democracy Act. It was something
that many other young Hong Kongers
keeping a watchful eye on the Lennon
Walls during the time in Battery Park
also did. Stationary Lennon Walls have
been defaced by Beijing supporters.
Introduced by Republican Senator
Marco Rubio, of Florida, earlier this
year, the legislation is an amendment
to a 1992 bill that would require the
U.S. secretary of state to issue an annual
certifi cation on Hong Kong’s democracy.
The portable walls were created
partly in response to the repeated destruction
of a permanent Lennon Wall
on Grand St. in Chinatown. The name
for that wall was appropriated from the
Lennon Wall in Prague that became
a spot for Czechs to express political
thoughts through Beatles lyrics and
graffi ti.
Pro-Beijingers have stopped by the
Grand St. wall and torn off notes on it
or ripped down fl iers and photographs.
The most recent defacement occurred
last week when huge letters spelling
“F— H K Roach!” were spray-painted
in red on the wall. The spray paint has
since been removed and the notes restored.
Despite the obstacles they face, Hong
Kongers here and their New York allies
will not stop doing what they can to
support protesters back in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kongers are trying to follow
the teachings of Bruce Lee,” said Anthony
Yeung, 26, a New Yorker whose
family is from Hong Kong. “‘Be like
water.'”
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