Hong Kong, rebel city no more: reflecting on the 2019 protests, 5 years on
- Hong Kong has undergone a sea change since 2019, with the government describing the new era as a transition from ‘chaos to order’
Sitting in the Dubai flat he has called home for a year, Wilson Lo* scrolls through his Instagram account, trying to catch up with what his friends have been doing back in Hong Kong.
Some news articles about his hometown pop up. The social media site has become the only way he consumes news in recent years. He naturally scrolls to the next post, without any urge to understand more, let alone share it or make any public comments.
“Distance is a reason for the lack of attachment,” he said. “But it is also the overwhelming sense of helplessness reinforced by the government’s repeated moves these years to get its own way.”
Lo took part in most of the demonstrations often marked by violent confrontations, witnessed a mob attack at a railway station, designed posters to promote the protests and would not go to bed without checking all the major news outlets for the latest updates.
He was not directly affected when Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 in the wake of the unrest, triggered by a now-withdrawn extradition bill, until one day he realised he and his friends no longer shared news on social media and had started to watch their words.
