Umbrella Movement
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The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the
2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...
. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for
passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...
to the
Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...
's use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...
(NPCSC) of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
of 31 August 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive. The movement consisted of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 26 September 2014, although
Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy camp, pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNN]Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong ...
, the
Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...
, Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) are groups principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision. Since the start of the 2014 protests, movement activists have complained of harassment from political opponents "alarmingly similar to the way mainland Chinese activists and their families have long been targeted" and have been prosecuted and jailed for their participation in acts of protest.


Name

The name 'Umbrella Revolution' was coined by Adam Cotton on Twitter on 26 September 2014, in reference to the umbrellas used for defense against police pepper spray, and quickly gained widespread acceptance after appearing in an article in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' on 28 September reporting the use of teargas against protestors that day. The name, Umbrella Revolution, was later rejected by some prominent members and supporters of the Occupy Central campaign, fearing that the movement would be mistaken as espousing violent overthrow of government. They emphasized that the movement was not a colour revolution but rather a demand for free and fair elections, and proposed the name 'Umbrella Movement' as an alternative. Since there was no explicit leadership or formal organisation for the movement, both names have been used by participants from time to time. Those promoting more than merely peaceful protest, such as members of Civic Passion, prefer not to use the name "Umbrella Movement".


Political movement


Echo of the occupation in campus

Almost all students in universities of Hong Kong were in echo of 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign, and fully supported the "Umbrella Movement". Many secondary schools established political reform concern groups, for supporting
student protest Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academi ...
s and "Umbrella Movement". While at the same time, people switched their user icons on social media with yellow ribbons or umbrella to indicate their support to the movement. In addition, after the Lion Rock was suspended a giant banner "I want real universal suffrage", in Hong Kong universities such as
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
,
Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...
,
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the firs ...
,
Open University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU, previously known as the Open University of Hong Kong) is a public university in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is the only self-financing university set up by the Hong Kong government. The universi ...
,
Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a public Liberal arts education, liberal arts university with a Christian ethics, Christian education heritage in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university was established as Hong Kong Baptist ...
,
Lingnan University Lingnan University a public research university located in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Lingnan University has 3 faculties, 3 Schools, 16 departments, 2 language centres, and 2 units (science and music), offering 29 degree honours ...
,
City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...
, and Hong Kong secondary schools such as King's College, Queen's College, Immaculate Heart of Mary College, St. Paul's College, small copies of Lion Rock banners were hung.
NOW新聞佔領大事記 2014年12月17日


Echo of the occupation in Hong Kong areas

On 23 October at the peak of
Lion Rock Lion Rock, or less formally Lion Rock Hill, is a List of mountains, peaks and hills in Hong Kong, mountain in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin District, between Kowloon Tong of Kowloon and Tai Wai of the New Territories, and is high. The ...
, mountaineering enthusiasts "Spiderman" and his companions hung a giant banner "I need real universal suffrage", which made a sensation in Hong Kong; but on the next day it was dismantled by the government. Since then the public launched the campaign of "demolish one, hang ten", on each of Hong Kong mountains and islands, including
Tai Mo Shan Tai Mo Shan is the highest peak in Hong Kong, with an elevation of above the , or around above mean sea level. It is located at approximately the geographical centre of the New Territories. The Tai Mo Shan Country Park covers an area of ...
, Devil's Peak, Tai Tung Shan, Castle Peak, the Peak,
Kowloon Peak Kowloon Peak, also known as Fei Ngo Shan (literally: "Soaring Goose Mountain", Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 飛鵝山), is a mountain in the northeast corner of New Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in Ma On Shan Country Park. With the s ...
,
Tung Ping Chau Tung Ping Chau () is an island in Hong Kong, part of Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark. It is also known as Ping Chau (). ''Tung'' (, meaning ''east'') is prepended to the name at times so as to avoid possible confusion with ''Peng Chau'', ...
and so on, banners "I need real universal suffrage" were hung, while on the Lion Rock many times during and after the occupation, banners "I need real universal suffrage" were hung again. In addition, between 30 September and 2 October, various areas in Hong Kong were in echo of the occupation, including nearby the MTR Sheung Shui station (30 September) (where HK URBEX produced a short film to support the movement),
Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...
, Kwai Shing East,
Tai Wai Tai Wai (Chinese: 大圍 ) is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong, located between Sha Tin and the Lion Rock, within the Sha Tin District. With three rapid transit stations, one of which an interchange station serving two lines, fiv ...
,
Tuen Mun Tuen Mun () or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the mo ...
, Chai Wan,
Kwun Tong Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon P ...
and other places.


Echo of the occupation in China and abroad

The new campus of the
University of Macau The University of Macau (UM or UMAC) is a public comprehensive research university in Macau. The university campus is located in Hengqin, Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, Guangdong, on a piece of land leased to and under the jurisdiction of the Governmen ...
, located on
Zhuhai Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...
, was hung with a banner labeled "Macau also need real universal suffrage" 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic'' similar that of the Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution, for echoing the street protests in the occupied territories of Hong Kong.


Solidarity rallies in China and abroad

Rallies in support of the protests occurred in over 64 cities worldwide by October 2014, principally in front of Hong Kong trade missions or Chinese consulates. A demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy in London attracted 3000 participants. Petitions in Australia and to the White House urging support for the protests have collected more than 500 and 183,000 signatures respectively. In Taiwan's capital city Taipei, locals organised a solidarity protest, where participants were reported to have scuffled with Taiwanese police after crowding a Hong Kong trade office. On 1 October, a gathering in Taipei's Liberty Square drew over 10,000 people in support of the protests. At the East Asian Cup">Liberty Square (Taipei)">Liberty Square drew over 10,000 people in support of the protests. At the East Asian Cup qualifying match against Hong Kong on 16 November, Taiwanese football fans waved yellow umbrellas in a show of support. While the Chinese national anthem played, spectators sang "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies", a Cantonese song written and recorded by ''Beyond (band), Beyond''. In Singapore, hundreds of people participated in a candlelight vigil at Hong Lim Park on 1 October to show support to the Occupy Central protesters. In Australia, during the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit, Hong Kong student Alvin Cheng and Nardo Wai started a 4-hour rally in support for the
Umbrella Revolution A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after t ...
on the lawn near the South Bank Parkland Suncorp Piazza outside the G20 summit venue. Numerous oversea students from Hong Kong,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and
Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
participated in the rally. Nardo participated in a
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...
, and unfurled a banner with "Support HK Umbrella Revolution" outside the hotel in which Communist Party general secretary
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
was scheduled to stay, but were banned from the G20 security zones, doubted by media Australia losing its democracy.


Process


Occupation time

The duration of each occupied territory is as follows: * Admiralty occupied territory: 26 September to 11 December 2014 *
Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...
occupied territory: 28 September to 15 December *
Mong Kok Mong Kok (Chinese language, Chinese: 旺角), also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK, is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward, Hong Kong, Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. As one of the major sho ...
occupied territory: 28 September to 27 November *
Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui ( zh, c=尖沙咀), often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed ...
occupied territory: 1 to 3 October


Events

Some of the major historical events in "Umbrella Movement" are closely related to the occupied territories, including but not limited to the following events: * 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign (22–26 September) * Action of regaining the "Civic Plaza" (26–27 September) * "Occupy Central" official launch (28 September – 3 December) * "September 28" action of tear gas dispersion (28–29 September) * Disperse and clearance operation in Mong Kok (25–27 November) * "Aligned with the regime, vows fight democracy" operation of surrounding the government headquarters (30 November – 1 December) * Clearance operation in Admiralty (11 December) * Clearance operation in Causeway Bay (15 December)


De facto membership

The movement was composed of many fractious groups, but has no leadership or formal organisation overall, although
Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy camp, pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNN]Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong ...
, the
Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...
(HKFS), Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) are among the most prominent groups, whose agendas differ and may even oppose each other. Although the term "Occupy Central" was often used interchangeably in the press to describe the protests and the movement, OCLP declared themselves as supporters rather than the organisers of the protest, stated that the ongoing protest " asthe Umbrella Movement, not 'Occupy Central'". Colours and members of the following groups have been regularly seen on site during the occupation: * Civil Human Rights Front *
Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...
*
Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy camp, pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNN]Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong ...
*
Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) was a pro-democracy camp, pro-democracy liberalism in Hong Kong, liberal political party from March 2006 to May 2023 in Hong Kong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Article 45 Concern Group, Basic Law Ar ...
* Democratic Party * Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood * Labour Party *
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
* People Power * Civic Passion


Background

Hong Kong was a part of the former British Empire. In 1997, control of the city was handed over to China, known as the
handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...
. When this control of Hong Kong was handed over to China there was a special agreement made called "one country, two systems". This agreement was made to ensure that Hong Kong had some independence from China.


Philosophical principles

OCLP, the originators of the campaign, as well as the student groups – HKFS and Scholarism – adopted and adhered to the principle of non-violent civil disobedience and the willingness to assume the consequential legal responsibility. The protesters' politeness, tidiness and "staunch adherence to nonviolence" was widely commented on. Protesters have written signs to apologise for the inconvenience caused and to denounce isolated incidents of vandalism. The civil disobedience actions opened up debate within and outside Hong Kong as to its effect on the
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
.


Factional philosophical and tactical differences

Important philosophical and tactical differences between the students and OCLP have been noted. While the 3-day OCLP civil disobedience was due to start on 1 October to send a message without causing major disruption, students wanted immediate occupation and staged a sit-in on 26 September. OCLP's hand was effectively forced by the turn of events, and their proclamation of the start of the civil disobedience campaign met with widespread criticism that the action was not "Occupy Central". OCLP's goal from the outset was passive resistance campaign of a defined duration, after which they would surrender to the police; their plan was not to resist removal or clearance, but there was radical sentiment of students and others to resist and escalate. The scale of the protests exceeded the expectations of most people, including the groups involved, and after police manifestly failed to contain and control the gathering crowds even through use of tear gas on 28 September, demonstrators did not heed the advice of the HKFS and others to de-escalate to avoid the possibility of use of heavier weapons. After the Mong Kok occupiers and occupation site were attacked by anti-occupation protesters, OCLP leader,
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
professor Benny Tai, as well as
Lester Shum Lester Shum Ngo-fai ( zh, t=岑敖暉; born 11 June 1993) is a Hong Kong social activist and politician. He was a leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and served as deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Stu ...
of the HKFS and
Agnes Chow Agnes Chow Ting ( zh, 周庭; born 3 December 1996) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the March 2018 Hong Kong ...
of Scholarism, urged immediate retreat from Mong Kok to regroup at Admiralty to avoid violence and bloodshed, but their calls were not heeded. As another example of tactical divisions, not-so-passive occupiers re-seized the Mong Kok encampment after it was initially cleared by police. The divisions within the movement appear to have been most marked at the Mong Kok occupation site, where a left–right split followed the central divide on Nathan Road. Student groups and liberal NGOs mostly occupy the western carriageway, while groups with a more radical agenda urging more direct and confrontational protest actions sited themselves on the eastern side of the road. Civic Passion, which denigrates moderates and has even denounced student leaders as "useless", saw its influence in the movement increase as time went by as ordinary suffragists drifted back to their daily lives. "
The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...
" noted that, after 33 days of occupation, the two sides seemed to be entrenched in the impasse and hawks gaining the upper hand while moderates leaving. Tai and fellow OCLP leader
Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...
professor Chan Kin-man left due to exhaustion from attempting to exert a moderating influence on the more radical members of HKFS and hardline groups; third parties that acted as mediators were sidelined. Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong said: "Any suggestion that they leave snot a matter of rational discussion any more". Members of radical group Civic Passion broke into a side-entrance to the Legislative Council Complex in the early hours of 19 November, breaking glass panels with concrete tiles and metal barricades. Legislator Fernando Cheung and other suffragists tried to stop the radical activists, but were pushed aside. The break-in was criticised by all the three activist groups of the protests, and legislators from both the pan-democracy and pro-Beijing camps, although the criticism from the student groups was less than categorical. The team organising legal assistance declined to help those arrested in the attempted break-in because the violence was not compatible with the principles of the movement. Tactical divergences have caused disagreement between some more "front line" activists and organizational core (大台/大會) when the latter came under criticism for preventing excursions or escalations of the former. After a failed attempt to block off access to government headquarters overnight on 30 November 2014, OCLP leader Benny Tai urged a full withdrawal to avoid any further physical harm by "out of control" police commanded by "a government that is beyond reason".Reuters (2 Dec 2014)
"Hong Kong Occupy founders tell students to retreat amid fears of violence"
CNBC.
On the day the OCLP trio surrendered to the police, Scholarism leader
Joshua Wong Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong), pro-democracy activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, Demosistō until it disbanded following i ...
and two others had entered a hunger strike.


Demographics

According to a survey of 1562 people between 20 and 26 October at the occupied sites by two young academics published on ''Ming Pao'', over three-quarters of the respondents were aged between 18 and 39 years of age; 37 percent of respondents were aged 24 years or below. Only 26 percent are students, while 58 percent are self-employed or white collar workers. 56 percent were educated to university or post-graduate level. In terms of motivation, 87 percent of respondents demand "real universal suffrage", 68 percent felt that their grievances were being ignored by the government, and 51 percent were angry at the police handling of the protests overall. 15 percent of respondents had never participated in any protests or social movements prior to the September protests. Notwithstanding, the movement is considered very much a student movement, a defining moment where an entire generation of youths have experienced political awakening similar to the Californian
Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...
in 1967. Hong Kong youth are seen to have broken out of a cramped or cosy domestic environment into a community built around a cause, and held together with a sense of danger. Journals and documentaries have commented on the sexual politics, and remarked at the changing sexual stereotypes the movement has brought to the city, noting that females appear to be emerging from the undercurrent that women are expected to adhere to their domestic roles, and taking more leadership roles in society. Many of the city's once-spoilt youngsters have learned self-discipline and to live within a community, and playing a role that may include janitorial tasks. The three street camps across Hong Kong have their own distinctive character. Umbrella Square (Admiralty site), was largely dominated by students, seen to be loftier and more idealistic, and its ambiance was likened to Woodstock. Mong Kok, being a typically more working-class neighbourhood, occupation was regarded as being more earthy and more volatile. Causeway Bay, the smallest encampment with only about a dozen tents towards the end of the occupation, had a reputation for earnestness.


Organization


Operating funding sources

The economy in the occupied territories is mostly maintained by people's spontaneous donation, in the form of
Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...
through or not through supplies station to share to the local residents. In addition, there are conspiracy theories pointed out
Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...
is the main source of income in the occupied territories.机密资料再曝黎智英为占中幕后黑手 秘密录音全记录
凤凰资讯独家


Rest areas

The people living in the occupied territories initially mainly resided on the road, lying on the ground to sleep. After 10 October 2014, by the appeal of Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, people mainly resided inside their spontaneous
tent A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...
s. Then, some tents were reinforced by plastic plate or board to cope with the rainwater penetration. Later, people finished up the tabernacles, making the tent groups to form small communities, such as Nathan Village, Harcourt village and so on.


Logistics

''Time'' magazine described the organised chaos of the protest sites as "classical political anarchism: a self-organizing community that has no leader". Teams of volunteers working in shifts dealt with garbage collection and recycling, security and medical care. Well-stocked supply stations dispensed water and other basic necessities such as toilet paper, saline solution, instant coffee and cereal bars free of charge. The medical team in Admiralty consisted of more than 200 volunteers across four stations. Wooden steps were built to allow people to cross over the central divide of the eight-lane carriageway in Admiralty. A study area was created, complete with desk lamps and Wi-Fi; mobile phone charging stations were powered by electricity generators and wind turbines.


Security

Security as an issue was anticipated by OCLP, and a team of 50 marshals were put in place to secure the sites, although this was not universally welcomed. The head of the team was a professional life-guard and unionist.Siu, Phila; Yu, Alan
"Occupy Central marshals keep an eye over Hong Kong's democracy protesters"
''South China Morning Post'', 11 November 2014
However, the fragmented leadership of the movement was complicated by some groups, which challenge the leadership of OCLP, also refuse to submit to the marshals' authority, for example, their removal of some barricades was challenged.


Communication

Some protesters have used the online forum HKGolden to communicate plans, and occasionally to dox anti-Occupy figures, in addition to inventing memes and parody songs. The operation to block Lung Wo Road on 14 October 2014 was planned on the forum. On 18 October, the police arrested a HKGolden user for urging others to join the Occupy protests in Mong Kok, charge at police cordons, and paralyse the railways. He was charged with "access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent", the first such arrest since the protests began. As of 9 November fourteen protesters have since been arrested for "access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent". The protesters have been targeted with
malware Malware (a portmanteau of ''malicious software'')Tahir, R. (2018)A study on malware and malware detection techniques . ''International Journal of Education and Management Engineering'', ''8''(2), 20. is any software intentionally designed to caus ...
, according to a security consultancy, which believed that Chinese intelligence was responsible. Protesters used
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
messaging, such as
WhatsApp WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...
and FireChat due to fears of the police disrupting mobile services. Mesh networks such as FireChat and Serval Mesh have the potential to circumvent government oversight even if the Internet is being shut down. Since FireChat messages are not encrypted, protesters also used
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
.


Art and culture

2014.10.36 Hong Kong protests.JPG, Umbrella art strung between two footbridges 香港佔中爭普選抗議 (10).jpg, The Umbrella Installation on the Tim Mei Avenue Art works and installations have appeared at protest sites, attracting interest from the world's media. These include the walls of the circular staircase leading up to the pedestrian skybridge near the entrance of Hong Kong's Central Government Office covered with multi-coloured post-it notes bearing messages of good cheer or defiance, named the " Lennon Wall" after the Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic. John Lennon's song " Imagine" is often quoted on pro-democracy posters and banners, and became one of the anthems of the occupation. In addition to the use of traditional protests songs, banners, logos for the movement, installations and sculptures of all sizes have been created, including 'Umbrella Man', an iconic 3-metre statue created out of wood blocks, with an arm outstretched holding an umbrella. The umbrella and the yellow ribbon have inspired a large number of memes. The 28-metre banner hung on Lion Rock also inspired numerous memes, and a 3D scale model. An image of
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
holding an umbrella that won a top photojournalism award in China inspired another bout of meme-creation, and has appeared on banners and cardboard cut-outs. There are efforts to preserve the art, but the city's government-funded museums are uncooperative.


Mobile protests

Fearing re-occupation of the Mong Kok occupation site, in excess of 4,000 police were deployed to the area. Large crowds, ostensibly heeding a call from Chief Executive C. Y. Leung to return to the shops affected by the occupation, have appeared nightly in and around Sai Yeung Choi Street South (close to the former occupied site); hundreds of armed riot police charged demonstrators with shields, pepper spraying and wrestling a string of them to the ground. Protesters intent on "shopping" remained until dawn. Nightly shopping tours continued in Mong Kok, tying up some 2500 police officers, ostensibly at the behest of C. Y. Leung to help restore the economy of the once-occupied areas. The minibus company that took out the Mong Kok injunction (a restraining order from the court to stop protesters occupying roads in the district) was in turn accused of having illegally occupied
Tung Choi Street Tung Choi Street () is a street situated between south of Sai Yeung Choi Street and Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is one of the most well-known street markets in Hong Kong. Its southern section, popularly known as Ladies ...
for years. On Christmas Eve, 250 protesters marched from Southorn Playground to Civic Square. Around 7:00 pm, 500 "shopping" (referred to as "gau wu" by participants) protesters with yellow banners and umbrellas, gathered in Shantung Street, then Argyle Street and Nathan Road. Ten men and two women aged between 13 and 76 were arrested. In Causeway Bay, people hung a yellow banner on the Times Square clock tower. The banner was removed by the police. No arrests were made as the protesters were on private property. A group of students hung a banner on Lennon Wall. About 30 people had been arrested.


"Rule of law" discourse

The
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
is a pillar of Hong Kong society and a core value of Hong Kong. In an ongoing discussion since the beginning of the movement, there have been polarised definitions of "rule of law" as applied to the civil disobedience movement. The local government and Chinese state officials and media have repeatedly emphasised the aspect pertaining to obedience and respect of laws and pronounced on the illegality of the movement's occupation and protests, while pan democrats see the concept as being about the law as check and balance against absolute power of government. Even in a policy speech one month after the end of the occupation, the Chief Executive once again stated that the Umbrella movement has jeopardised the rule of law and risked plunging the territory into a state of anarchy. The tendency of the government preface with such mentions was noted in the speech of the outgoing chairman of the local Bar association, Paul Shieh, who spoke of his concern over "an increasing tendency on the part of the executive in Hong Kong, in its public statements, to emphasise the 'obey the law' aspect of the Rule of Law" in a way that mirrors practice on the mainland. Secretary of Justice Rimsky Yuen blamed the movement for "large-scale as well as sporadic unlawful activities that
ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
about blatant challenges to the rule of law". However, the Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma said people involved in the Occupation Movement have "demonstrated the respect that most people have for the rule of law and emphasised once again the pivotal position it occupies in our community". Ma reiterated that "It is no part of the courts' function to solve political questions, but only to determine legal questions even though the reason for bringing legal proceedings may be a political one."


Subsequent violence and intimidation

Before, during, and after the occupation, activists of the movement have been intimidated with threats, been victims of hacking, been put under surveillance and subjected to invasions of privacy and other forms of harassment that the ''Christian Science Monitor'' quotes analysts saying are "alarmingly similar to the way mainland Chinese activists and their families have long been targeted". All of the OCLP trio have been targeted: Chan having banners denouncing him appear near his home, attempted hacking of his email, family members tailed, men staking out his house around the clock, receiving hate mail, death threats and even letters containing razor blades; Tai having his email account hacked, receiving hate mail and nuisance telephone calls; Chu giving up using his mobile phone due to persistent crank or threatening calls, his son being followed and filmed when making school runs, the photographs being posted up subsequently near his home and church;
Wong Wong or Mr Wong may refer to: Name * Wong (surname), a Chinese surname, listing people and fictional characters with the surname * Wong (Marvel Comics), manservant/mentor to Doctor Strange Sr./Jr. in Marvel Comics ** Wong (Marvel Cinematic Univer ...
having had his telephone numbers (and that of his mother) and his purported address made public. Some of the intimidation is from official sources. Activists have been arrested and had their residences searched, police have demonstrated elevated levels of violent suppression and brutality. The heavy-handed policing, including the use of tear gas on peaceful protesters, was widely credited with inspiring tens of thousands of citizens to join the protests in Admiralty."Hong Kong protests: 'People will be asking in 10 years, 20 years, where were you?'"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 9 October 2014.
However, police spokesmen maintained that officers exercised "maximum tolerance" and blamed the violence on protesters, although this has been contradicted by the media.Chow, Vivienne (29 September 2014)
"Umbrella Revolution: more designs on Hong Kong's protest movement"
''South China Morning Post''


Anti-Occupy attacks

Groups of anti-Occupy Central activists including triad members and locals attacked suffragists on 3 October, tearing down their tents and barricades in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. A student suffered head injuries. Journalists were also attacked. Police were criticised for reacting too lightly and too late when protesters were under attack. The Foreign Correspondents' Club accused the police of appearing to arrest alleged attackers but releasing them shortly after. Albert Ho of Democratic Party said communists in mainland China "use triads or pro-government mobs to try to attack you so the government will not have to assume responsibility". During a police operation to clear protesters on 15 October,
Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) was a pro-democracy camp, pro-democracy liberalism in Hong Kong, liberal political party from March 2006 to May 2023 in Hong Kong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Article 45 Concern Group, Basic Law Ar ...
member Ken Tsang was assaulted in an act graphically filmed and broadcast on local television. He was carried off with his hands tied behind his back by seven police officers; then officers took turns to punch, kick and stamp on him for about four minutes. Journalists complained that they too had been assaulted. Numerous other instances of excessive violence by police have been reported, namely the first attempted clearance of Mong Kok occupation, the Lung Wo Road clearance operation, and during the "gau wu" protests in Mong Kok.


Travel restriction

Some individuals have also seen their freedom to travel curtailed by Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China authorities, and had their Home Return Permits revoked. The HKFS delegation led by Alex Chow was prevented from travelling to China on 15 November 2014. Airline officials informed them that mainland authorities had revoked their
Home Return Permit The Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (colloquially referred to as the Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit) is a travel document issued by the Exit and Entry Administration of the People's Republic of China. This ...
s, effectively banning them from boarding the flight to speak to government officials in Beijing. At least 30 other individuals have been similarly denied entry to the mainland. A junior member of Cathay Pacific flight crew out of Hong Kong airport was also prevented from entering Shanghai, and no reason was given. Media speculated from her Facebook account that the reason may have been her support for the movement and her attendance at the occupation site. Media sources suggest that some 500 movement activists' names are on the PRC blacklist for inbound travel. Scholarism member Tiffany Chin (錢詩文) was detained by public security bureau officers as she landed in Kunming on a family visit on 18 February 2015; her baggage and those of her mother were searched, and officials pored over her notebooks. Chin was put under house arrest in a room in an airport hotel watched over by two officials and was forbidden from approaching windows. Chin said the officials told her that she was denied entry for endangering national security. She was permitted to return to Hong Kong the next day and her Home Return Permit was returned to her.


Police handling of teenage protesters

In December 2014, Police applied for Care and Protection Orders (CPO) against two young suffragists. Typically, CPOs are only used in severe cases of
juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...
, and could lead to the minor being sent to a children's home and removed from parental custody. Police arrested one 14-year-old male for contempt of court during the clearance of Mong Kok and applied for a CPO. The CPO was cancelled four weeks later when the Department of Justice decided that they would not prosecute. In a second case, a 14-year-old female who drew a chalk flower onto the Lennon Wall on 23 December 2014 was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, detained by police for 17 hours, and then held against her will in a children's home for 20 days, but was never charged with any crime. A magistrate decided in favour of a CPO pursuant to a police application, deeming it "safer". The incident created uproar as she was taken away from her hearing-impaired father, and was unable to go to school. On 19 January, another magistrate rescinded the protection order for the girl–now commonly known as "Chalk Girl" ( 粉筆少女)–however overall handling of the situation by police and government officials raised broad concerns. There is no official explanation as to why proper procedures were not followed or as to why, in accordance with regulations, social workers were never consulted before applying for the order. The controversy gained international attention, and
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
produced a short documentary film about her story, titled "The Infamous Chalk Girl" which was released in 2017. Use of the device against minors involved in the Umbrella Movement was seen as "white terror" to deter young people from protesting.


Aftermath


Government's electoral reform rejected

On 18 June 2015, the Legislative Council rejected the government's electoral reform proposal by 28 votes to 8.


"Umbrella soldiers"

The movement spawned new groupings such as Hong Kong Indigenous and Youngspiration seeking political change. The first wave of novitiates, about 50 in number, many of whom were born in the new millennium having political aspirations and disillusioned with the political establishment and affected by the Umbrella Movement, contested the 2015 district council elections. Pitted against seasoned politicians, and electioneering support often only from friends and family, they were popularly known as "Umbrella Soldiers". Nine of these new politicians succeeded in getting elected; veteran pro-establishment legislators Christopher Chung and Elizabeth Quat were both ousted from their District Council seats by the newcomers.


Imprisonment of prominent instigators

Wong and two other prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, were sentenced to six to eight months' imprisonment on 17 August 2017 for occupying Civic Square at the
Central Government Complex The Central Government Complex has been the headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong since 2011. Located at the Tamar, Hong Kong, Tamar site, the complex comprises the Central Government Offices, the Legislative Council Complex and the ...
at Tamar site. The sentence was expected to impair their political careers, as they faced barring from running for public office for five years. Just days earlier, 13 fellow Umbrella Movement activists had been convicted of unlawful assembly in relation to the events in 2014, receiving sentences of 8 to 13 months' imprisonment. On the Sunday following their sentencing, 20 August, a large demonstration of umbrella-carrying Hongkongers, the most massive since the 2014 occupation, took place. On 1 October 2017,
National Day of the People's Republic of China National Day ( zh, s=国庆节, t=, p=guóqìng jié, l=national celebration day, links=yes), officially the National Day of the People's Republic of China (), is a public holiday in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national da ...
, a demonstration under the rubric "Anti Authoritarian Rule" again called for release of jailed activists, as well as demanding resignation of the Chief Executive
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...
and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen. A prominent slogan read, "Without democracy, how can we have the rule of law?" The organisers, Demosisto, the
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
and the Civil Human Rights Front, estimated 40,000 people participated. On 24 October 2017, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law were granted bail pending appeal by the Court of Final Appeal. On 9 April 2019, nine of the initiators, including Benny Tai, Rev Chu Yiu-ming and Chan Kin-man, were found guilty in a Hong Kong court for inciting public nuisance or inciting others to incite. On 15 August 2019, Benny Tai was released on HK$100,000 cash bail, surrendering his travel document. On 28 July 2020, the governing council of the University of Hong Kong decided to dismiss associate professor Benny Tai. File:三名香港傘運學生領袖 被改判即時入獄6至8月 01.jpg, 17 August 2017: Nathan Law, Joshua Wong, Alex Chow (L–R) at main entrance of the High Court before sentencing File:20170820 March in support of jailed Hong Kong activists 2.jpg, 20 August 2017; march in support of jailed Hong Kong activists


Nobel Peace Prize nomination

On 5 October 2017, the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government which monitors human rights and rule of law developments in the People's Republic of China. The commission was given the mandate by the U.S. C ...
(CECC) Chair US Senator
Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...
and co-chair US Representative Chris Smith announced their controversial intention to nominate
Joshua Wong Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong), pro-democracy activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, Demosistō until it disbanded following i ...
, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and the entire Umbrella Movement for the 2018
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
, for "their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and protect the autonomy and freedoms guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration".


Slogan

In the
Sunflower Movement The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the prod ...
, " Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow Taiwan" was used to express opposition to the
Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, commonly abbreviated CSSTA and sometimes alternatively translated Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, is a treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) th ...
with China in Taiwan. On the other hand, during the Umbrella Movement, the phrase "Today Taiwan, Tomorrow Hong Kong" was used to signify the desire to achieve the same level of democratization in Hong Kong that Taiwan had previously experienced.從香港立法會選舉再看「今日香港明日台灣」
/ref>


See also

* Hong Kong 1 July march in 2003 * 2019–20 Hong Kong protests *
Sunflower Student Movement The Sunflower Student Movement is associated with a protest movement driven by a coalition of students and civic groups that came to a head between March 18 and April 10, 2014, in the Legislative Yuan and later, the Executive Yuan of Taiwan. ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


"Hong Kong protests: Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' protesters refuse to back down"
NBC News
"Will Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement move China"
Reason.com
"Beijing just sent a chilling message to Hong Kong's umbrella revolution"
''Quartz''
"傘不走的女聲 Do you hear the women sing" (YouTube video)
香港基督教協進會性別公義促進小組
"Occupy Central Sep. 29 time-lapse record" (YouTube video)

"The end of Occupy Central Dec. 11 time-lapse record" (YouTube video)
{{HKafter1997 * Civil disobedience Political controversies in China Political history of China Political scandals in China Scandals in China Political movements in Hong Kong Riots and civil disorder in Hong Kong Protest marches in Hong Kong Political protests in Hong Kong Hong Kong democracy movements