Topic: One year on, Hong Kong democracy activists ask what protest achieved (Read 233 times)

Debate is raging about impact of umbrella movement as protesters return to streets on anniversary of occupation of financial district

Howard Kong’s drone swept into the darkness over Hong Kong, the images on his monitor revealing a vision from Beijing’s nightmares.

Below, thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators swarmed on to the streets, clutching banners, blocking traffic and facing off with police.

It was the night of 28 September 2014 and the umbrella movement protests – an occupation of Hong Kong’s financial centre that would last 79 days and draw more than 100,000 people on to the streets – had begun.

“It was so impressive. There were people everywhere,” recalled Kong, a 29-year-old photographer from the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily who used his £700 aerial drone to capture some of the most spectacular pictures of the protests. “My first thought was: the people of Hong Kong have united. My second was: the government is screwed.”

Fast forward one year and the crowds and the Glastonbury-esque tent city they built have gone, evicted last December during a police operation involving hundreds of officers.

At 5.58pm on Monday – the exact time that a volley of police tear gas is credited with kicking off the occupation – activists will return to the site of the main protest camp in Admiralty to remember, to celebrate and in many cases to mourn a movement that shook Hong Kong.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/27/hong-kong-democracy-activists-ask-what-protest-achieved-umbrella