ABSTRACT
Post-1997 Hong Kong has been dubbed “a city of protest,” but the city was literally “on fire” during the 2019 unrest (BBC 2019; Dapiran 2017; Dapiran 2020). Under the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has long suffered from chronic antagonisms between the pro-Beijing “patriots” who are in power by default and the predominantly prodemocracy population. In 2019, what was described as “the largest and perhaps the most relentless protest movement” during that year was triggered by a government proposal to allow extradition of suspects from Hong Kong to Mainland China for trial (Lührmann et al. 2020, 22). Although the government was eventually forced to abandon the controversial bill after millions of citizens took part in sustained demonstrations across the territory, the clashes between the police and a “leaderless struggle for democracy” turned increasingly violent (Freedom House 2020; Lai and Sing 2020). Between June 2019 and May 2020, police fired 16,223 rounds of tear gas, 10,108 rubber bullets, 1,885 sponge grenades, 2,033 beanbag rounds, and 19 live rounds of ammunition (Leung and Cheung 2020). As of January 2022, at least 10,496 protesters have been arrested and 2,909 prosecuted (Kang 2022).
