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Opinion | Hongkongers are restoring order to their own city, brick by brick. Who needs the Carrie Lam administration?
- Violent protesters have faced not only police brutality but also brigades of volunteers cleaning up after them. Hongkongers themselves – not the police, not the government – are leading the charge to get the city back on track
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The civil disobedience movement in Hong Kong, which started in early June, has shown what makes this special administrative region of China truly special – the people. The movement, which started as a peaceful march of hundreds of thousands, brought out and rallied millions of people from all walks of life and of all ages. They differed in strategy, joining either marches or violent attacks, but were held together by a common goal: to make their voices heard and recognised.
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During lunchtime protests on the streets of Central, the financial district, they were cheered on by bankers, lawyers and office workers in suits.
The diehard protesters, who believed peaceful means would not help realise their goals, took to throwing firebombs and bricks, shutting down universities, schools, malls and MTR stations, putting up barricades and bricks on thoroughfares, while other members of the community volunteered to remove the bricks, barricades and other obstructions from the roads to allow traffic and people to flow like water again.
The violent protesters who left a trail of damaged public and private property confronted not only the brutal power of the police but also, eventually, the brigade of brick removers. It was over the weekend of November 15 that things started changing, even as violence escalated at Polytechnic University.
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Many Hongkongers – whether they supported the protesters or pro-Beijing political parties like the Federation of Trade Unions – started taking matters into their own hands, for the good of all. They did so one brick at a time.
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