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'Why Not Just Try:' Hong Kong Protesters Share What Drives Them

William Gallo

   HONG KONG - When he left the house last week, Joseph, a 19-year-old
   Hong Kong college student, told his parents he was going to hang out
   with friends. That was only partly true.

   In reality, Joseph was headed for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
   where he and a group of hundreds of other young people barricaded
   themselves on campus, blocked a major highway, and stockpiled homemade
   weapons in preparation to battle police.

   Night after night last week, the urban campus become a battlefield, as
   police rained tear gas and rubber bullets on students, who responded
   with Molotov cocktails, bricks, and whatever else they could find.

   Though Hong Kong has seen five months of protests, this kind of
   violence is new. The pro-democracy movement that had been marked by
   massive street rallies now risks being overtaken by a smaller group of
   hardcore students who have shown they are willing to go beyond peaceful
   demonstrations and engage in prolonged battles with police in their
   push for democratic reforms.

   "I would definitely admit that we're using a certain level of
   violence," says Joseph, who spoke via an encrypted messaging app. "But
   in order to protect the innocent protesters and create pressure on the
   government, a certain level of violence and power to fight back is
   necessary."
   In the minds of frontline protesters like Joseph, the violence is a
   last-ditch effort to preserve what is left of Hong Kong's freedoms
   before the semi-autonomous territory is fully taken over by China in
   2047. Hong Kong authorities accuse the protesters of engaging in
   violence that is incompatible with democracy.

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