Hong Kong protests have reached a point of no return (opinion)

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and UNICEF. The airport blockade capped one of the bloodiest weekends in modern Hong Kong history which saw police indiscriminately firing tear gas and rubber bullets in the confined spaces of the city’s mass-transit railway stations. The bill could see Hong Kong residents sent to China’s notoriously politicized judicial system. What is astonishing is that, after almost three months of widespread disruptions and now daily protests, one would’ve expected protest fatigue to set in among Hong Kong residents, known for their pragmatism and work ethic. Speaking on Monday to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the charismatic leader Joshua Wong described Hong Kong as a police state, adding: “We will never give up…We will not be threatened by Beijing.” That type of language reminds me of what I heard firsthand from pro-democracy protesters in Shanghai, shortly after the Chinese army cleared Tiananmen Square in 1989.