During the 2019 bloody riots in Hong Kong, many of the young so-called “protesters” vowed to fight the “final battle”, which saw an escalation of violence to confront the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and Beijing.
Some 60 percent of the 10,000 offenders, including rioters, arrested were under 30 years of age; about 75 percent had achieved higher education; and 16 percent were involved in social activism for the first time, according to academics from three universities in Hong Kong.
And Time magazine noted that at the movement’s core were high school and university students who cast themselves as “urban street fighters”, willing to gamble away their futures for their beliefs.
It appears that many who have spent jail time to repent their sins against society have learned their lesson and are now reaching out for help and guidance. Project Change is offering that helping hand
Despite attempts by the authorities to quell the angry mobs, they remained defiant to the bitter end. “We’d rather die in the fight than slowly suffocate to death after we lose the fight,” a 22-year-old told Insider magazine.
Such were the sentiments of most of those widely reported in the Western media. They were hardcore street fighters armed to the teeth with bricks, Molotov cocktails and other lethal weapons aimed at the police officers. Some 84 percent (according to the academic findings) had previous experience in social activism.
During and after the riots, the police arrested about 10,000 lawbreakers (nearly 45 percent were students), some 2,700 of whom have been prosecuted on riot-related offenses. After trial, some 60 percent were jailed; many received light sentences of only a few months in jail, a few up to three years; and about 22 percent have been discharged through lack of evidence. The balance were given good-behavior bonds. Justice prevails.
Some of those who received light sentences have been released from jail but are now having a hard time assimilating into society. They carry the stigma of a convicted felon and face rejection after rejection when seeking employment or university entrance.
Coming to their aid is a group of academics and community leaders under the banner of Project Change, which has already helped about 200 released offenders and their families with emotional support. The project was kick-started in 2020 when the now-commissioner of police, Raymond Siu Chak-yee, sought assistance for a recently released university student to resume his studies.
The group said many young protesters they had come across during the past two years had experienced difficulties looking for jobs or school places because of their pending cases or criminal records.
Project Change founding director Dr Pauline Sung Chan Po-lin called for empathy toward the discharged offenders, citing the confrontation with police inside the Polytechnic University campus in late 2019. She said some young people might have turned up merely to show their support.
Pauline Sung is a clinical fellow of the Asian Academy of Family Therapy and honorary associate professor of the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy. She is strongly supported by her husband, Dr Sung Yun-wing, associate director and treasurer of the project, and who is an adjunct professor in economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Among the young protesters Project Change has helped was a secondary school student whose plan to go abroad for university study was hampered by his criminal record and poor English skills. The group helped him engage an English tutor and a retired magistrate, who wrote a reference letter for him.
In a report published last year, Project Change said many of those arrested were well-behaved, but had been misguided and “swept up” in the social unrest. But according to the international media coverage of the 2019 unrest, many were defiant, even preparing to “go underground” should all rioters be arrested.
There is evidence this could be the case. In late January, the Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board disbanded when the university terminated the Board’s use of all facilities on the campus. The university had asked the Union Editorial Board to withdraw all published copies of an issue of its journal Jumbo after receiving complaints of its content and sought legal advice on whether the issue could be contrary to the National Security Law for Hong Kong. The offending journal also repeatedly referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as the “Wuhan Virus”, a derogatory phrase used by then-US president Donald Trump in his anti-China campaign.
The 2019 riots polarized the city, with family and friends split over the merits of the cause, whatever it may have been. Many of the youngsters took part in the clashes without their parents’ knowledge.
However, it appears that many who have spent jail time to repent their sins against society have learned their lesson and are now reaching out for help and guidance. Project Change is offering that helping hand.
The author is a former chief information officer of the Hong Kong government, a PR and media consultant, and a veteran journalist.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.