WOW. I wonder where the protestors learned to hate so much. Who are their handlers?
Guess it was not about the extradition treaty after all.
In fact
Issac Cheng disavowed themselves from the anti-extradition bill protests.
Please see the interview with Agnes Chow,
Christian activists arrested in Hong Kong ahead of weekend's 'leaderless' protests
Agnes Chow. Photo courtesy of Chow’s
.
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Agnes Chow. Photo courtesy of Chow’s
.
Updated Aug. 30: Pro-democracy and outspoken Christian Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were arrested by Hong Kong police the morning of Aug. 30, according to their political organization Demosisto. Wong was arrested first, then Chow was taken from her home a short while later, both to Wan Chai police station. The charges are of participating in an unlawful assembly on June 21 surrounding police headquarters in Wan Chai, and Wong is also charged with organizing an unlawful assembly. Both were released on bail the same day, and Hong Kongers were warned that anyone who participates in a planned protest over the weekend would be resisted with force and possibly arrested. This weekend is the five-year anniversary of when China took away free elections from Hong Kong, and marks five years since the sit-in pro-democracy protests named the Umbrella Revolution that brought then-student leaders Wong and Chow to prominence.
Vice-chairperson of Demosisto, Issac Cheng, said on Friday:
“We are furious about the large-scale arrest on the day before 31 August, an attempt to impose white terror to prevent from further protests. It is completely ridiculous that the police target specific prominent figures of social movement in the past and framing them as the leaders of the anti-extradition bill protests. The 12-week long protests are well-known as leaderless. We once again reiterate that Demosisto has never taken up any leading role during the movement.”
On June 21, thousands protested in front of the police headquarters to demand that the city’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam, also a Catholic, resign. The protesters, who oppose a bill that would allow China to extradite accused criminals to the mainland and also protest general interference from China, threw eggs at the police building and scribbled graffiti on the walls, according to Hong Kong Free Press.
The following is a summary and conversation with Chow on Aug. 19.
was 15 when she saw photos on Facebook of students her age protesting the Chinese government’s plan to overhaul education in Hong Kong to fit the Communist Party’s ideas of “moral and national education.” Chow joined the sit-in demonstrations outside government offices and has remained active in pro-democracy advocacy ever since.
In 2016, Chow founded the political party Demosisto with two other prominent activists: Nathan Law and Joshua Wong, often called the poster boy of Hong Kong’s self-determination movement and an evangelical Christian outspoken about his faith. (Wong stars in the Netflix documentary
.)
Law was elected to office in 2016 but quickly barred for failing to take his oath to China as directed. Chow prepared to run for office by renouncing her British citizenship and won an election in 2018 by campaigning for Hong Kong’s self-determination, but she too was barred when the government decided that self-determination contradicts Hong Kong’s agreement with China for “one country, two systems.” At age 21, she would have been the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong’s history.
While only 12 percent of Hong Kong is Christian, the hymn “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” became the
of the most recent months of protests. The song allowed protesters, both religious and not, to legally assemble on the streets since religious assemblies are legal when some protest assemblies are not. Hong Kong’s Christian community is split over supporting or denouncing the protests, which are already causing financial losses, but churches who do support the protests are offering more than thoughts and prayers.
On Sunday, Aug. 18, an estimated 1.7 million people protested on the streets in Hong Kong despite rainfall. (That’s 25 percent of the population.)
Many of the
, like Chow, say their faith is what inspires them.