Written by Jobert Leong

After seven months of demonstrations rocking the streets, many people, especially non-Chinese speakers, may be wondering just what the slogans constantly chanted by protestors mean, and how they came to be. Without further ado, the following is a quick explanation of the key slogans used during the Anti-Extradition bill protests.

香港人 報仇: Hongkongers, take revenge

Initially 香港人 加油 (Hongkongers, add oil), the slogan shifted to 香港人 反抗 (Hongkongers, resist) sometime from October 1st to 3rd after a protestor was shot in the chest and the anti-mask law was introduced via the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, with protestors saying that the government was eroding even more freedoms with their actions. Later on, with no concessions to the protestors from the government, a lack of transparency or accountability from the government over the actions of the police and further allegations of police brutality, the slogan was changed to its current form.

五大訴求 缺一不可: Five demands, not one less

The five main demands of the protestors, which include a complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, retraction of the ‘riot’ classification for protests (chiefly the one on June 12th), amnesty for those arrested for rioting or unlawful assembly, creating an independent committee to investigate any police wrongdoings, and implementing complete true universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections (i.e. anyone can run without prior approval from the government).

光復香港 時代革命: Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times

Self-explanatory.

解散警隊 刻不容緩: Disband the police force, delay no more

Protestors believed that the police force was being too brutal in its handling of the protests and treatment of the people arrested, so it was considered that the police force was no longer serving its original purpose to protect citizens and thus should be disbanded.

沒有暴徒 只有暴政: No rioters, only tyranny

After the government classified what happened on June 12th as a riot, protestors responded by saying that the government was being too liberal with how it applied the ‘riot’ definition, especially considering how heavy-handed the police force’s response was on that day.

721 唔見人 831 打死人 101 槍殺人: No police appeared on July 21st, police beat people to death on August 31st, police used a gun to kill on October 1st

On July 21st, there was no immediate police response after white-shirted people, widely believed to be local triad members, charged into Yuen Long station and indiscriminately attacked people there, including both innocent civilians and people who were returning from protests earlier that day, with the police only arriving 39 minutes later. To make matters worse, the police station was mysteriously closed that night, the 999 hotline was not working when people were trying to call it, and local pro-establishment (pro-CCP) Legislative Councillor Junius Ho was seen meeting up with them later on and congratulating them on a job well done. This led people to believe that the government or police force were collaborating with the triads. This is also why people shout 黑社會 (Gangsters) when they see police during protests or situations where riot police are deployed in large numbers).

On August 31st, riot police were dispatched to Prince Edward station to arrest some protesters supposedly travelling back home after protesting earlier in the day, but they ended up beating innocent civilians who were travelling on the train they investigated, thinking that they were protestors as well. After the incident happened, people noticed that of the 11 people who were injured according to police records, three of them mysteriously disappeared. Along with the CCTV records for Prince Edward station on that day being kept confidential even after repeated requests by citizens, protesters believed that those three people may have been beaten to death that day.

On October 1st, a riot police officer shot an adolescent holding a white plastic pipe and a wooden board in the chest, barely missing his heart by three centimetres, after which they claimed that the officer  pulled out his gun because he felt threatened by the protester’s actions. Seeing as a plastic pipe would not be a legitimate threat to a police offer in full riot gear, people claimed that the police officer drew the gun with the intent to kill.