The ‘Hong Kong Crisis’: The Key Players and Figures
The article is part of the 'Hong Kong Anti-extradition Demonstrations: One Year Ago Today' initiative which aims to raise awareness for the movement and also to debunk some myths regarding the movement’s origins and core elements.
The thumbnail picture was taken by photojournalist KAI PFAFFENBACH from Reuters who recently received the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography on 4th May. This image depicts ‘Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam pauses while holding a news conference in Hong Kong, China, August 27, 2019. On September 4, Lam announced the formal withdrawal of the extradition bill.’
This article will debunk some of the key players and figures involved in the ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong. The following will cover their backgrounds as well as respective roles and actions in this political upheaval, shedding light on both widely known and some lesser-known actors involved.
Yellow Ribbons (黃絲) / Black Bloc (黑衫) – Anti-government Hong Kongers
The term yellow ribbon was coined during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. During what was another peak of anti-government sentiment in Hong Kong, in 2014, ‘Black Bloc’ came to be used to describe anti-government protestors at the beginning of the Extradition Bill crisis as it is representative of their standard attire in demonstrations. Both terms are used to describe people who are anti-government and pro-democracy. Furthermore, this section of the political spectrum can be generally divided into two: the peaceful protestors (Woleifei) and their more confrontational counterparts (Frontliners).
Woleifei (和理非) – Peaceful Protestors
Peaceful protestors are one of the two core groups of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. They partook in the anti-government demonstrations mainly by taking part in marches, whether government-sanctioned or not, as well as by other forms of civil disobedience. Measures taken included petition campaigns, supporting the ’Yellow Economic Circle’, online activism and contributing to ‘Lennon Walls’ in local neighbourhoods.
Some peaceful protesters also make material contributions to the other core group of protesters, the Frontliners. They provided material aid like meal coupons and gas masks to the confrontational supporters. Woleifei also contributed towards crowdfunding campaigns such as the Spark Alliance which provides legal assistance to arrested protestors, and the various worldwide ad campaigns that helped publicise the movement internationally.
Read more about ‘Lennon Walls’ and the ‘G20 Summit Newspaper Crowdfunding Campaign 2019’ as key features of the movement in the News article, ‘Co-authoring the space: demonstrators’ creative expression and other associated features of the Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Demonstrations’ and read more about the ‘Yellow Economic Circle’ in the Insight article, "#Yellow Economic Circle: 'Inhibitor of Social Change, 'Recipe for Economic Self-sufficiency' or A 'Driver of Political Chaos'?"
Image Credits: Anthony Wallace/AFP
Frontliners (前線) – confrontational protestors
Frontliners are the other major group of protesters in the movement. Frontliners are backed by Woleifei and adopt more confrontational and often violent tactics to express their demands. The extradition bill reading in Hong Kong Legislative Council was stopped by the Frontliners on June 12th as they surrounded the Legislative Council. This was responded to by tear gas, beanbag rounds and rubber bullets. They also stormed the same building on July 1st, a move that caused a split amongst the protesters at the time.
Some common tactics of the Frontliners included setting up roadblocks and barricades, vandalising the city’s transport system and pro-government businesses. Some confrontational protestors were also known to attack people that held different political views. To give an example, a pro-government lawyer was recently attacked by a group of demonstrators in Causeway Bay during the anti-national anthem and anti-national security bill protest on 24 May 2020. Protestors are also known to throw bricks and petrol bombs at police as well as police stations, which are disdained by the Blue Ribbons. These moves were particularly common during intense clashes, such as when the police attempted to enter and sieged the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019.
Image Credits: Kurniawan/Reuters
Blue ribbons (藍絲) / White Bloc (白衫) – the pro-government Hong Kongers
The term blue ribbon, like yellow ribbon, was also coined during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. It was initially used to describe the supporters of the police during the 2014 movement but was later used to describe people that were pro-government or pro-Beijing in general. The use of ‘White Bloc’ to describe pro-government Hong Kongers has been popularised as government supporters often wear white to distinguish themselves from the black-wearing protestors, as seen in the 6.30 ‘Safeguard Hong Kong’ Pro-government Rally.
Blue ribbons are known to demonstrate their support towards the government with the same tactics that are also used by the anti-government protesters. These included petition campaigns, online activism and public demonstrations.
Scenes of protestors and blue-ribbon citizens arguing during mass rallies are not uncommon. Whilst most were verbal, physical confrontations took place on several occasions. Some blue ribbons also attempted to sabotage the effort of the anti-government protesters, such as by tearing down neighbourhood ‘Lennon Walls’ set up by Woleifei. Instances of attacking protesters were also reported frequently. One example would be a man that stabbed three people that were defending the ‘Lennon Wall’ in the neighbourhood of Tseung Kwan O last August. The incident received much attention as the judge of his trial praised his action during his sentence in April, a move that received backlash from the general public and the legal community in Hong Kong.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-Ngor
Image Credits: SCMP/TVB
Carrie Lam is Hong Kong’s first female chief executive. Her career began as a civil servant in 1980 when Hong Kong was still under British rule. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration, the city’s number 2 figure, from 2014-2017, before being elected as Chief Executive of Hong Kong in 2017.
During the movement, she refused the withdrawal of the extradition bill after the mass demonstrations on 9 June 2019, which in turn triggered the siege of Legislative Council three days later. Furthermore, she refused to formally withdraw the extradition bill well until October 2019; 4 months after the start of the political turmoil.
The Hong Kong Police
During the siege of Legislative Council on 12 June 2019, police appeared on scene firing tear gas at first-aiders, journalists as well as peaceful protestors in a government-sanctioned demonstration. Amnesty International has since criticised its excess use of crowd control measures as well as its unlawful use of batons and rubber bullets. An independent inquiry into police brutality became one of the Five Demands of the protestors, and the Police headquarters was repeatedly besieged by protestors throughout the upheaval.
Hong Kong Police has also been under attack for its differential treatments towards the yellow ribbons and blue ribbons; actions which the police denied. On 21 July 2019, mobs of armed thugs stormed the train station in Yuen Long and attacked commuters and protestors who were returning home from rallies. The Yuen Long Police Station was shut down as citizens called for help and many people complained that the 999-emergency hotline was jammed. Two police officers were seen turning away from the scene where the attack took place and police personnel only arrived at the station after the mobs were long gone, 2 hours after the attack started.
There are many more allegations of police brutality against the Hong Kong Police Force. One notable incident is the 31 August Prince Edward station incident, which ignited public outcry. The police were accused of indiscriminately assaulting people that were in the MTR station, and came under attack for closing off the station to reporters, as well as paramedics from the Fire Services and volunteer first-aiders.
There are more controversies surrounding the deployment of the police force during the movement’s proliferation, such as disguising themselves as protestors and failing to display their warrant cards. Please refer to the following reports for more information.
Extra Links
Amnesty International: Hong Kong: Arbitrary arrests, brutal beatings and torture in police detention revealed
Washington Post: In Hong Kong crackdown, police repeatedly broke their own rules - and faced no consequences.
Image Credits: Nasha Chan/Stand News
Chan Tung-kai
Chang Tung Kai was the person that triggered a series of butterfly effects that sparked the movement in Hong Kong. Chan murdered his girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing on 17 February 2018 in Taiwan when he found out that he was not the father of his girlfriend’s unborn child. He was unable to be prosecuted for murder in Hong Kong as the courts of Hong Kong have no jurisdiction over the case that took place in Taiwan. Taiwan requested for Chan to be extradited but the authorities of Hong Kong refused as there was no extradition agreement between the two jurisdictions. He was later sentenced to 29 months in prison for money laundering as he withdrew cash from Poon’s bank account to pay his credit card bills upon his return to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Government cited this case as the origin when it proposed the extradition bill amendment in February 2019, allowing Hong Kong to extradite Chan Tung-kai to Taiwan despite not having a formal extradition agreement.
Chan Tung-kai was released in October 2019, after the start of the protests. He claims that he is willing to go to Taiwan to surrender himself for the murder shortly before his release. However, he currently remains in Hong Kong, living in a local safe house provided by the Hong Kong Police.
For more information into the legal complications of his case, please refer to the following articles.
Extra Links
CNBC: Hong Kong man accused of murder walks free as city’s authorities clash with Taiwan counterparts
South China Morning Post: Wanted Hongkonger Chan Tong-kai’s Taiwan surrender plan unaffected by Tsai Ing-wen election win, says Reverend Canon, Peter Koon
Hong Kong Free Press: Taiwan and Hong Kong clash again over fugitive Extradition after suspect flees following robbery
Image Credits: BBC/Reuters
The Central Government
The Chinese government has reportedly intervened in the movement in several ways. These included official statements, state media reports, military exercises and the latest and toughest measures of all, the National Security Bill.
The Central Government has been seen exercising its influence through the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the China Liaison Office of Hong Kong. The official narrative of the central government is that there are foreign forces inciting the Hong Kong protestors. Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, when commenting on the situation in Hong Kong last August, suggested the city has begun to show the ‘first signs of terrorism’. The Office escalated its rhetoric, calling protestors a ‘political virus’ in early May.
In August 2019, China was seen conducting exercises suppressing protests in nearby Shenzhen with its paramilitary forces. This raised concerns amongst citizens that Chinese troops would be deployed to end the city’s political turmoil at the time. Another drill was held in December 2019, this time at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Garrison in Hong Kong. Warships, speedboats, armed helicopters, infantry and special troops took part in joint air and sea exercises over the city’s Victoria Harbour, which was interpreted as sending a message to radical protesters.
In more recent times, the Central Government’s latest action is its implementation of the National Security Law. Prominent pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong see this bill as ‘the end of Hong Kong’.
Read more about the ‘National Security Law’ in the News piece, "Hong Kong’s National Security Law: 'Autonomy at its End’"
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons/Citizen News
Roy Kwong Chun-Yu
Roy Kwong has been a lawmaker of the pro-democracy camp since 2016. He has been one of the most active and prominent political figures in this largely decentralised and leaderless movement. The scene of him carrying a megaphone in the crowds of protestors at the frontline can be seen at almost every demonstration, shouting his three rules of engagement: ‘don’t get injured, don’t spill blood, and don’t get arrested’. He has consistently ranked as one of the most popular lawmakers in Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute.
He was arrested on Mother’s Day this year for disorderly conduct during a demonstration. He was later released as the charges of him throwing water bottles at a police officer proved unfounded. The Hong Kong Police Chief, Tang Ping-Keung, later expressed his ‘sympathy’ towards Kwong.
He was reportedly attacked last September by a group of men. The assailants ambushed Kwong at a car park, with three attacking him and one filming the incident. It is believed that the attack was premeditated.
For more information about Roy Kwong, please refer to the two interviews he did with Time Magazine and New York Times last year.
Extra Links
New York Times: The Peacemaker at the Center of Hong Kong’s Turbulent Protests
Time Magazine: ‘Whenever There’s Trouble He Rushes There.’ Meet Legislator Roy Kwong, the God of Hong Kong Protests
Image Credits: HKFP/inmediahk.net.
Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit
Sham is the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, the organisation that organised the many marches throughout the period, such as 9 June Protest, 16 June March, G20 Summit Rally of 26 June as well as the annual 1 July March that coincided with the Anti-extradition protests. The organisation also offers legal assistance to those arrested for participating in the protests. His primary role in the movement is liaising with the Hong Kong Police to organise different rallies. He is a proponent of peaceful demonstrations but suggests that the peaceful protestors and radical protestors should always remain united; an idea echoed by many who are involved in the movement. His role as demonstration organiser declined gradually as the police became increasingly reluctant to approve mass rallies. Simultaneously, more and more community-based marches were being organised by local political amateurs.
He was attacked on two occasions. The first attack took place on 29 August 2019 when he was dining at a local restaurant in Jordan. Whilst he remained uninjured in the first attack, the second attack occurred on the busy streets of Mongkok and Sham was smashed in the head with hammers and spanners.
He stood for the District Council Election in November 2019, winning the seat of Lek Yuen constituency of the Sha Tin District. He is openly gay and a major LGBTQ+ activist, for which he was slammed online by the pro-Beijing lawmaker Ann Chiang in July 2019.
Image Credits: Straits Times
For more information over the events that took place on any of the dates mentioned above such as 6.9, 6.12, 6.16, 6.21, 6.26, 6.30 and 7.1, please refer back to the News article ‘The ‘Onset of the Storm’: Key Dates and Events of the Early Stages of Hong Kong’s Political Unrest’
Disclaimer: Some sources were only available in Chinese. Some sources include articles that are behind the paywall of different newsagents, UCL students are able to access these articles by using Nexis with UCL login details.
Editors' Note: As a blanket disclaimer for the entire ‘Hong Kong: One Year Ago Today’ initiative, we will not be disclosing the identities of any of the contributors to the initiative. We thank everyone who has submitted a piece of their own work and we apologise for not being able to openly accredit you for your contributions.