Explainer | Hong Kong protests: how the city’s Reddit-like forum LIHKG has become the leading platform for organising demonstrations
- Protesters use LIHKG to call for backup or request supplies for those on the front lines of clashes with police
- The forum used to maintain spirits among the protest camp also has a dark side and is fertile ground for exposing police officers’ personal information
A post on the popular Hong Kong forum LIHKG calls on residents to skip work and classes to support a strike by civil servants and MTR staff and put pressure on the city’s embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
Written in Cantonese by an extradition bill protester last Monday, the post quickly garnered more than 11,000 upvotes from netizens supporting the movement that has been shaking Hong Kong for two months.
Another post appeared to call for a citywide strike on Monday.
“Skip work, you may lose your job. But if you don’t skip work, you will lose Hong Kong and your home! Freedom is not free, I beg you, let’s recover Hong Kong,” it read.
The forum, dubbed ‘Hong Kong Reddit’, has emerged as one of the virtual command centres of the apparently leaderless movement against the now-shelved bill that would have allowed the transfer of fugitives from Hong Kong to jurisdictions it lacks an existing arrangement with, including mainland China.
Ongoing discussions on the forum include where to buy equipment for protests and messages of encouragement to keep fighting.