Schoolgirl Protester Risks Future for Hong Kong Democracy Fight
Student, athlete, skater-girl, cat person. At 17, Christy is a typical teenager. Until two months ago, the most pressing question on her mind was what to study at college: engineering or physiotherapy?
Now, shes juggling classes with stints manning barricades in Hong Kong, bracing for an anticipated sweep by police to clear student-led protesters camped out on major roads for eight weeks to demand greater democracy. Christy rushes to the protest site after school, where she does her homework and sometimes sleeps over in a tent, wrinkling her uniform.
Her support for the protests has led to screaming fights with her mother, she said, as well as sneers from classmates and disapproval from some teachers. Like the hundreds of other school children, some as young as 14, participating in the movement, her bravado is tempered by worries about the impact on her future.
I understand that I should be focused on studying, on getting into a good university, on building a bright career to make my parents proud, said Christy, who asked not to be identified by her full name for fear of reprisals. I think its because were so educated that we know right from wrong. Its clear to me that everything Im doing right now is related to the future I want to live in.
Christy, 17, wearing a yellow ribbon holds a paper umbrella. Close
Christy, 17, wearing a yellow ribbon holds a paper umbrella.
Close
Christy, 17, wearing a yellow ribbon holds a paper umbrella.
Hong Kongs youth are the stalwarts of protests that have sparked the citys biggest political crisis since it returned to Chinese rule from Britain in 1997. The students have been called radical by the citys leader, while some Chinese officials have taken a softer line, calling them misguided for demanding the public be allowed to nominate candidates in the leadership election in 2017.
While they have yet to win concessions from the government, their disciplined resistance has catapulted the students from relative obscurity to being the most recognized political group in the city. The emergence of a brasher generation taking over from established pro-democracy campaigners portends decades of political struggle ahead.
Follow this link:
Schoolgirl Protester Risks Future for Hong Kong Democracy Fight