The protests in Hong Kong started out with a bang and blasts of tear gas Sunday night.
Since then, Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement has spread rapidly to five different districts in the city. Roads normally filled with buses and taxis have been closed off, as tens of thousands of people sit in the streets for the protest many news outlets call, “The Polite Revolution.”
There’s no fighting and no looting. Donations of food and water have been stockpiled and are given out to protesters in need. Volunteers collect trash and even sort the recyclables. It seems like the fear of the riot police is behind them. The umbrellas used by protesters to defend themselves from tear gas have become symbols of the revolution.
Hong Kongers have a clear goal to accomplish with their protest: universal suffrage and the ability to choose their own leader, without influence from Beijing. It’s a right they feel they were promised, and a right they’re willing to fight for.
(Photos: Dannie Higginbotham/ANIMALNewYork)
