No takers for this bus to Yuen Long today, it looked like!
Four yours ago today, I took part in an anti-extradition bill/pro-democracy protest march in the afternoon. But, as it turned out, that turned out to be far from the most eventful thing that occurred in Hong Kong on July 21st, 2019.
Rather, that date is now primarily associated with what unfolded in Yuen Long, mainly but not exclusively its (main) MTR station, that evening: specifically, attacks by white t-shirted thugs on regular folks (some of whom were on their way home after taking part in the afternoon's protests but others of whom had not actually taken part in the protests at all); and the failure of the police to turn up to protect the civilians and, after they belatedly did, their failure to not arrest the thugs.
Four years on, I am still psychologically affected by what I saw unfold via live streams and videos shared on social media by Hong Kongers -- to the extent that when I saw and heard parts of then Stand News reporter (and now political prisoner) Gwyneth Ho's live stream of the Yuen Long attacks again this evening, my palms literally started sweating and I had to take deep breaths to calm down. And while the visuals and her screams are seared into my memory, I had forgotten that you can hear the blows that the thugs' rained down on her (and others) with their sticks in the audio. I think I had wiped them out of my memory because they were so awful.
The makers of If We Burn, a Hong Kong protest documentary that I've not been able to view (as it's not been screened in Hong Kong, and the chances of it ever being so are pretty slim), shared on Twitter excerpts from it in which Gwyneth Ho tells of how the Yuen Long attacks were premeditated and talks about her wounds from that night (which included a gash that was some 30 centimeters long and at least one where she lost all on the skin in the area). Should there be little doubt: this is a woman of courage who deserves our respect and admiration. And, incredibly, she continues to show her courage and conviction -- in court giving testimony in the trial of the 47 (of which she is among) today, yesterday, and Tuesday.
Back to today and Yuen Long: this evening saw many more police officers in the vicinity of the MTR station there than had been the case four years ago. What an irony, huh? Though no where near as ironic as the fact that some of the victims and heroes of the Yuen Long attacks are currently behind bars. I think here not only of Gwyneth Ho but another member of the Hong Kong 47 (who stand accused of breaking the national security law), ex-legislative councillor Lam Cheuk-ting.
By the way, I used to enjoy going to Yuen Long before July 21st, 2019 -- and I actually often planned hikes so that my hiking party would end up in Yuen Long for dinner. But since July 21st, 2019, I've only visited there twice. And although, surprisingly, I found establishments that were very openly "yellow" in that part of Hong Kong, I have to be honest and say that I didn't feel entirely comfortable while there.
Yet one more change and scar that is the result of not so much the political unrest that came to the fore in earnest in 2019 but, rather, the actions -- or, on the evening of July 21st, lack of action -- of the powers that be that have made it so that Hong Kong has (and many of us who live here and really f**king love Hong Kong have) not felt okay and "normal" for more than four years now. :(
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