The Hong Kong Protests Essay Example

On March 15, 2019, Anti- Extradition Law was being brought to the office and starting to pick up traction. If in effect this law would make Hong Kong residents go to mainland China to face trial. Citizens of Hong Kong saw an issue with this because Hong Kong was a British territory until July 1, 1997, and due to this Hong Kong residents have a different political system from the rest of China. They don't have a full democracy but they do have multiple parties such as pro-establishment, pan-democrats, and large pro-establishment. They also have a legal system that prosecutes Hong Kong citizens.  

When the law was going to be voted on, an uproar started. Protesters started by laying out five demands. The first one was that the protests will not be characterized as “riots.” The second one was official pardons for protesters. The third demand was an unrelated investigation on the police brutality faced during previous protests. The fourth demand was the implementation of complete universal suffrage. Finally, the fifth demand was to withdraw the bill which was met in late September of 2019. 

Though the fifth demand was met the protesters were still very much enraged and now had more traction than ever before. In early October Hong Kong saw some gruesome protests that included but are not limited to; an eighteen-year-old getting shot in the chest, protesters fighting officers with poles, petrol bombs, and other projectiles, the government banning protesters to wear masks (to conceal the identity, not covid-19) and many more issues. People were pretending to be supporters of the cause then were causing unwanted chaos like stabbing innocent bystanders. These days are commonly known now as Hong kong's “violent and most chaotic days.”

The protests have affected Hong Kong's economy severely Though with the U.S.-China trade war, causation can be debated. Hong Kong is in a recession for the first time in a decade. Along with a recession, retail sales have been on a steep decline making the already failing economy fail even more. Since these riots were heavily recorded a lot of the world had seen these gruesome events take place henceforth tourism has dropped. 

In conclusion, the Hong Kong protests heavily affected not only the Hong Kong government but its citizen's life as well. Protests still rage on though conditions have slightly changed. The bill as stated earlier is gone but the citizens of Hong Kong still feel like their rights are being taken from them or government decisions keep political prisoners. Trials involving said prisoners have started, but have higher bails and unlikely winnable cases. Though their economy is slowly recovering and is no longer in a recession with 7.8% growth by march 3 2021 and still continually climbing. Hong Kong's citizens will continue to fight for change in their government until all five demands are met. 

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/world/asia/hong-kong-protest.html

https://www.hkeconomy.gov.hk/en/situation/development/index.htm

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49317695

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49891403

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/hong-kongs-extradition-bill-final-straw/