Is civil disobedience the solution to attain universal suffrage?By Angus Lau 9E (13)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I am Sergeant Angus Lau. I was born from a family that suffered from domestic violence, and my childhood was a misery. I was constantly beaten by my father, and my mother would be too if she tried to help me from the beating. At first, my mother and I were too afraid to call the police, but then, seeing how they were so willing to help us, we decided to do it and my father was arrested. Finally, my childhood was restored, but this incident was embedded in my brain forever. The thought or sight of violence made me both angry and afraid, and I always hoped that there would be forever-lasting peace. Seeing how the police were serving justice, peace and how they saved my life, I joined the police force at the age of 20 to redeem myself to the society.

After so many years of serving in the police force, it was the first time that I was taking part in such a large operation like the umbrella revolution, and this really widened my horizons, yet it also made me realize of the cruel reality of the world.

What made me widen my horizons was the fact that all the protesters, no matter if they were strangers, were united, as they demanded universal suffrage outside the government building. They held hand in hand in their arm locks and they were determined to hold out to the end of the battle. Also, what they did that differed to other protests all over the world was that people who went to protest did keep the streets clean, some sweeping the floor, others bringing out the rubbish. On top of that, the protesters were all helping each other, some shared supplies, some created artworks, some tutored the students. This shows how Hong Kong people had the enthusiasm to take part in deciding our own future.

On the other hand, even though many protesters may think that creating the umbrella revolution civil disobedience would be a successful method to obtain universal suffrage, we have to face the cruel reality that this would never happen, and the umbrella revolution would finally harm ourselves. Firstly, the reason is because if China gave Hong Kong full universal suffrage, other places like Tibet or Xinjiang would also demand universal suffrage as these places are not under direct rule of the Chinese central government but have their own government. This would cause chaos in China, as the number of civil unrests will be out of control, and this may lead to violent protests, causing damage in economic, material and political perspectives.

The economic damage caused by the umbrella revolution was tremendous after a lot of shops were forced to close during the two and a half months that the civil disobedience occurred. The shopkeepers still had to pay their massive amounts of rent that accumulated to up to tens of thousands of dollars per shop, and an estimate of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars were lost due to shop rents in the period. Restaurants also have less business because of this event. Not only that, the vast amount of protestors also affected traffic in Hong Kong significantly as most main roads were blocked. This caused many people who went to work to need more commuting time, resulting in peoples alternative option of taking the MTR. This caused the MTR to be like a gas chamber, packed with people. The amount of traffic also affected schools in Hong Kong Island, as they had to suspend school because of the stopped services of transport like buses, minibuses or taxis. We could also see that the number of tourists that came to Hong Kong during the period of time decreased significantly, as people were afraid of the potential dangers that the civil disobedience may trigger. Towards the end of the movement, the shop owners even had a fight with the protesters in Mong Kok as they demanded the protesters to leave so they could continue running their business.

Last but not least, the civil disobedience demonstrated in the umbrella revolution resulted in the big strain on the police forces in Hong Kong. Most of the police officers, like me, were to stand guard in the protest sites. We had to blockade the main roads, the entrance to the government building, and civic squares entrance. There were shortages of officers, which resulted in long shifts, tireless nights, where there were not sufficient food. Sometimes, when the protests get too violent, we also had to spray pepper spray and tear gas, to control the crowd. People might argue that the protests were fairly peaceful, but when I looked at my friend, who was stabbed in the chest by umbrellas, it sent a shiver down my spine as blood gushed out of his wound. Was this really the real face of Hong Kong? Will we really want to destroy the Hong Kong that we had?

Through my experience in the front lines, I concur that civil disobedience was not the correct way for protestors to demand universal suffrage, the Hong Kong dream that would never come true.