This archive report was first published on 9 June 2020.
One Year of Protests in Hong Kong ¶
On June 9, 2019, hundreds of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong against a proposed extradition law, marking the start of the city's biggest political crisis in decades. The protests have continued, with demonstrators pushing for greater official accountability and opposing Beijing's growing influence over the city.
Organizers estimate that a million people marched on June 9, 2019, against the proposed law allowing extraditions to mainland China. The rally was mostly peaceful, though some protesters and police officers clashed after midnight.
Over the next few months, protesters filled the city's streets, broke into the local legislature, staged sit-ins at the airport, and turned a university campus into a fiery battleground. The protests quieted amid the coronavirus pandemic but have resumed in recent weeks.
Beijing's push to impose national security laws over the territory has prompted some protesters to return to the streets. The protests have been marked by clashes between protesters and police, with some protesters carrying makeshift weapons and attacking opponents on the streets.
On July 21, 2019, a mob attacked a group of protesters in a train station, injuring dozens, including journalists and a pro-democracy legislator. The appearance of police inaction that night fueled widespread anger toward the Hong Kong police force.
By August 2019, Hong Kong's airport was the center of protesters' focus, with sit-ins and blocked travelers snarling flights and causing hundreds of cancellations. The airport obtained a court injunction barring access to its terminals to anyone except employees and travelers bearing flight tickets.
The protest movement earned a stunning victory in late November 2019, as pro-democracy candidates captured most of the seats in local elections for district councils. However, the protests subsided for several weeks after that.
On New Year's Day 2020, demonstrators returned to the streets in full force, with protests that started peacefully but descended into violent clashes with the police. Early this year, the protests eased as residents stayed home and social-distancing rules were imposed.
However, demonstrators pressured the government in other ways, notably through a union of hospital employees who went on strike to force the government to slow travel from mainland China to lessen the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Recently, lunchtime rallies have re-emerged, though on a much smaller scale than the protests by office workers and others that brought traffic to a halt in key business districts last year. Last month, protesters took to the streets to vent their anger over Beijing's plan to impose new national security laws and a bill in front of the local legislature that would ban the disrespect of China's national anthem.
