The Hong Kong Protest. Social Sciences. Research Paper

The Hong Kong Protest
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The Hong Kong Protest
Introduction
The Hong Kong protest started on 28th September 2014. “What started in June with peaceful rallies in opposition to contentious legislation has devolved into a steady stream of mayhem, with some protesters embracing violent behaviors in response to brutal police tactics (Victor, 2019).” It involved protesters and the Hong Kong government with help from Beijing. (Cai, 2016) argues that the regions’ and the Chinese central government expected the movement to last at least 80 days after kick-off. However, they had wrong expectations since the protest continued not only for a longer period but also after the withdrawal of the bill causing the conflicts. According to a report revealed by the BBC news channel, 2019, “Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.” On the other hand, the government responded by releasing large populations of police to counteract the protesters. The protesters escalated the movement to higher levels to ensure the withdrawal of the bill, as well as the safety of the people living in the region. The use of conflict theory in the analysis of the protest shows the hostile opposition both by the Protestants and the Hong Kong government as both groups anticipated and fought to win, regardless of the possible consequences.
Overview
The Hong Kong government purposed to implement a law whereby the people committing crimes in their jurisdiction could receive verdicts for criminal activities in China. Although the process had the basis of the agreement between the two governments, the people in the region knew that the system will render biased justice through the institution of unfair treatment in the effort for the Chinese government to conquer and influence Hong Kong (BBC News Services, 2019). This fear triggered the passion towards the involvement of peaceful demonstrations to oppose the implementation of the bill and protect the welfare of the people living in the region. However, (Victor, 2019) argues that a “minority of protesters have become increasingly destructive, hoping to force the government’s hand. Since only one of the protesters’ demands has been met — the withdrawal of the extradition bill — the more violent participants felt peaceful rallies were ineffective.” However, the protesters laid self-defense claims saying that the violence was made to counteract the extreme violent tactics used by police to attack them. On the other hand, the assumptions in the differences between the different subgroups in a society yield excellent analysis of the Hong Kong Protest through the use of conflict paradigm.
Description of the Protest
The demonstrations started at the mid eaves of the year to protest against the intended plans to allow and enforce extradition to China. The people in the region anticipated strict jurisdiction in the implementation of justice if the plan succeeded in implementation. Accepting the bill would lead the mass populations in Hong Kong to going through law enforcement procedures implemented by the two distinct jurisdictions. What if the cooperation made strict legislation in the delivery of justice? What will the reputation of the people become after allowing the passing and implementation of the law? In this case, the demographics in Hong Kong could not allow the people convicted of any crime in their region to face law enforcement in another jurisdiction. Eventually, they thought and had fears that extradition to the mainland might deliver biased justice, resulting in the unfair implementation of justice. Hence, the people in Hong Kong rejected the bill. “The Occupy movement, which is ‘the most severe political conflict’ or ‘the largest mass movement’ since the handover of the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China2 (Cai, 2016).” Large populations of people in the region indulged in the movement to fight for their rights and the safety of the people in their community.
The activists said that allowing implementation of the bill would expose Hong Kong individuals to unfair trial procedures and violent treatment after judgment in the course of justice. Did the Hong Kong government think about the negative impacts of the agreement before getting into the deal? Would the Chinese still stay calm after the achievement of having the Hong Kongers under their arms for justice implementation? Protests claimed that China will impart great influence in the region since it will have known the possible areas of the strike to attack the sovereignty. The journalists and media channels will have nothing to hide since the law enforcement will already have exposed the criminal activities in the region. Also, activists will no longer have the freedom to fight by speaking and acting against any law that does not support their rights. The protesters thought that China will take over their region and the iteration would mostly impact the local people negatively (Victor, 2019). Hence, they had two options; to either allow the bill to take charge and live under the enforcement, or protest against the enforcement to maintain their rights, and they chose the latter.
Although the bill was withdrawn in September, the protesters continued with the demonstrations in the fear that it could be revived. They called and acted for a complete withdraw (Victor, 2019). The clashes between the protesters and police outgrew resulting in violence and loss of lives (Cai, 2016). For example, “An 18-year-old was shot in the chest with a live bullet as protesters fought officers with poles, petrol bombs and other projectiles (BBC News Services, 2019).” The protesters grew wild and raised more demands including; release of the arrested protesters, withdrawal of their demonstrations as ‘riot’, end of police brutality against their action, implementation of the right for almost everyone to participate in political elections and the ultimate withdrawal of the bill (Cia, 2016). Also, the activists fought against further trade ...