FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 15, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
without trial, according to human rights
organization Amnesty International.
As a result, on June 9, over a million
people took to the streets in Hong
Kong protesting the government’s refusal
to withdraw the bill, which has led to
the arrests of over 600 people and excessive
police violence, according to activist
Anna Cheung, founder of NY4HK (New
Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong), an organization
formed in September 2015 in
support of the democracy movement in
Hong Kong.
Th ough Hong Kong’s Chief Executive
Leader, Carrie Lam, shelved the bill in
mid-June, demonstrators are calling for
her resignation and wider demands for
democratic reform in the city.
“It is pretty bad and right now as we are
speaking, they’re protesting at the Hong
Kong International Airport,” Cheung told
QNS in a phone interview aft er returning
from Hong Kong. “It’s very emotional. It’s
diff erent when I’m here hosting a rally to
support them. People are working together
and there are thousands of people
on the street, especially the youngsters.
When I go to the assembly, you cannot
even get through. Th e people are peaceful
and polite.”
Th e Hong Kong International Airport
returned to normal operations on Aug. 14
following clashes between protesters and
police, CNN reported. Almost 200 fl ights
to and from Hong Kong Monday had
been canceled as thousands of protesters
shut down the airport.
Cheung, an activist for 25 years, was
joined by outspoken critics at the NY4HK
Manhattan rally giving members and outside
supporters a platform to voice their
concerns on the erupting protests in Hong
Kong.
“Th ey’ve been watching this every day
… some of them immigrated here or
came to study so they feel they want to
at least chant with me … they get excited
and sing the songs,” Cheung said. “Th ey
want to be a part of it and show their support.”
Queens connections to
Hong Kong protest
Hundreds of volunteers across the city
have joined the movement — including
two Queens residents, who used to live in
Hong Kong. Th ey expressed their sentiments
to QNS in a phone interview about
the violent clash between the riot police
and protesters.
Born and raised in Hong Kong for 14
years prior to moving to San Francisco
and then New York City to continue her
academic studies, Yvonne Chen, 29, of
Fresh Meadows, said she began paying
more attention to the living conditions,
politics and news in Hong Kong.
“It changes every time I go back,” said
Chen, who visits the city one to two times
a year. “Protests happened every year in
Hong Kong since 1997 and that’s because
we are given the right to do so. Sadly, the
Hong Kong government never listens to
our voices, even though all of the protests
from the past were very peaceful.”
Chen joined NY4HK in 2014 when the
political Umbrella Movement in Hong
Kong gained momentum during pro-democracy
protests in September 2014. It
prompted her to return to Hong Kong
that year, she said.
“Th e main purpose of the Umbrella
Movement was universal suff rage,” Chen
said. “Th e entire government system was
corrupt because it was handpicked by the
Chinese government, and then it moved
to diff erent areas in Hong Kong because
the government didn’t respond to our
requests and just let us be.”
Why they protest
Hong Kong — a special administrative
region of the People’s Republic of
China, with a population of over 7.4 million
people of various nationalities — was
a British colony for more than 150 years.
Part of it, Hong Kong Island, was ceded to
the United Kingdom aft er the fi rst Opium
War in 1842. Later, China also leased the
rest of Hong Kong — the new territories
— to the British for 99 years.
Sovereignty over the territory was transferred
to China in 1997, under the principle
of “one country, two systems,” with
its own mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
Following the agreement between the UK
and China, Hong Kong gained autonomy,
except in foreign and defense aff airs, for
the next 50 years.
Under the constitution, Hong Kong has
its own legal system and borders, and
rights including freedom of assembly and
free speech, which are protected. Other
rights include “no arbitrary or unlawful
arrest, detention or imprisonment; torture
of any resident or arbitrary or unlawful
deprivation of the life of any residents
shall be prohibited.”
Demonstrators have listed their fi ve key
demands: Withdrawal of the extradition
bill; retraction of the proclamation protests
on June 9 and June 12; a withdrawal
of criminal charges against all protestors;
a thorough investigation of abuse of
powers by the police; and dissolution of
the legislative council by administrative
order; and an immediate implementation
of Dual Universal Suff rage.
Fighting a ‘puppet regime’
According to Chen, a lot of people may
see the movement as anti-China or even
Hong Kong seeking independence, which
she says, is a yes and no question.
“We are just fi ghting for what Beijing
promised in the joint declaration,” Chen
said. “Every night, every time I watch this
live news in Hong Kong time overnight
and I have to go to work and school the
next day, I have to pretend nothing happened.
It aff ects me a lot. You just really
want to go back and help, but you can’t go
because you’re trying to fi nd other ways
and sources to help those people out, but
you’re not there and that still hurts me a
lot. Some of my friends and family members
in Hong Kong, either they don’t care
or are pro-police. Th ey can’t see what’s
right or wrong.”
Chandelier Loo, 30, of Bayside, said
the protests have aff ected her mentally by
realizing that the judicial system is totally
broken.
“Most of us believe that Carrie Lam, the
Hong Kong chief executive, has been controlled
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
like a puppet by the Beijing government,”
Loo said. “Hong Kong is still
running under the “one-country, two-system”
policy and what’s happening in the
recent days has exposed the truth that the
Beijing government has once again lied to
the world: there is no such thing.”
Upon her trip to Hong Kong in July, Loo
witnessed protesting in Sha Tin, Central,
Yuen Long and Causeway Bay, where
police offi cers arrested people who weren’t
conducting illegal activity, she said.
“Young people were trying to assist people
with asthma exacerbation from tear
gas exposure, effi ciently set up barricades
to safeguard front line medical staff . Pitylooking
homemade styrofoam shields and
swimming boards were used as defensive
measures by those in the front line
who are prepared and feared of being
harmed by police,” Loo said. “Th e Hong
Kong Police were protecting and letting
‘white-shirted’ gangsters leave aft er they
abused by-passers, and telling protesters
to leave the site and arresting those who
were trying to leave.”
For Loo, joining NY4HK gave her an
opportunity to help fellow Hong Kongers
even though she is not able to be by their
side, she said.
“Looking back to the Umbrella
Revolution in 2014, my desire to fi ght
for democracy in Hong Kong has not
changed; the only diff erence is that my
feelings of powerlessness has increased
over time as my body is in the USA and
my spirit in Hong Kong,” Loo said. “Th is
movement is also aff ecting the economy
in the U.S. because Hong Kong is basically
used as a bargaining chip between
China and the U.S.’s trade war. If Hong
Kong’s fi nancial status goes down, so does
the world because Hong Kong is a major
fi nancial hub of Asia.”
Loo added, “Th ere is a popular saying in
the internet forum from the young Hong
Kong population to the Chinese government,
‘If we burn, you burn with us; and
if you burn, you burn.”
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
/WWW.QNS.COM
