Advertisement
Shades Off | Hong Kong protests: a ‘colour revolution’ or peaceful demonstrations hijacked by radicals? Let’s not twist history
- To represent the movement that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets seeking justice as an attempt to wrest power from authorities is to ignore reality
- In the current political climate, poorly defined national security red lines can easily be abused
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
99+
History often has several versions of events, depending on which side is telling the story. Two years on, the protests that for months brought Hong Kong to a standstill are portrayed by Beijing and its supporters as being a violent “colour revolution”.
Advertisement
I remember them differently; they began as huge, peaceful demonstrations centred on democratic ideals that in their later stages were hijacked by a minority of radicals with ulterior motives.
To represent the movement that brought hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, to the streets seeking fairness and justice as being an attempt to wrest power from the authorities is to ignore reality.
Beijing imposed its national security law on Hong Kong almost a year after the protests began and the tough provisions quickly brought them to an end.
Those accused of subversion and other serious crimes – mostly for organising an unofficial primary election to choose candidates for Legislative Council elections, links to perceived foreign interference, or unlawful assembly – have been the city’s highest-profile supporters of Western-style democracy. Many had a prominent role in the demonstrations.
Advertisement
A subsequent shake-up of the voting system, again dictated by the Chinese leadership and swiftly put in place, ensures that such people have little or no chance of holding public office and shaping the city’s direction and development.
Advertisement