This archive report was first published on 20 November 2019.
November 20, 2019
As the police siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University trapped over 1,000 pro-democracy protesters, a group that has turned increasingly outspoken is the parents of the protesters.
Mothers and fathers, racked by fear and anger, have emerged as a call for compromise in the standoff on the campus, where several dozen holdouts remained. Many parents worried not only about the safety of students in Hong Kong's increasingly violent protests, but also about the longer-term consequences for young adults whose lives could now be upended by abruptly truncated educations, criminal charges, and prison.
At a news conference held on Tuesday, the parents made pleas to the Hong Kong authorities, questioning the uncompromising language that has become standard in the city's political impasse. Several criticized the authorities for having labeled everyone on campus as rioters.
Sam Ho, a 43-year-old interior designer, said that his 17-year-old daughter had gone to the school to return books on Sunday. Soon after, her online communications cut off. Without telling her parents, she later joined a pro-peace prayer meeting on campus. Mr. Ho was so distraught on the first night that he joined three parents in a wild rescue bid, but abandoned their attempt after one was shot by the police with a beanbag round.
Being close to the action changed Mr. Ho's thinking on the petrol bombs that protesters were hurling toward riot officers. “The Molotov cocktails they throw are mainly to create a distance from the police,” he said.
Mr. Ho was one of a few hundred parents, many with students inside, who sat near police lines wearing masks and holding signs with messages like “Save the kids, don’t kill our children” and “They are children of God! Let them go!”
