Hong Kong protesters put focus on mobility
‘Be water’ illustrates their changing tactics
HONG KONG — The distinctive clang of metal hitting pavement echoed across Hong Kong.
Over several hours, in successive waves Sunday, different districts filled with the sound of protesters erecting and just as hastily taking down their improvised barricades.
While past nights of protest have ended in protracted standoffs between demonstrators and riot police, rally participants this time took a different tack. Since their pro-democracy movement began two months earlier, they have repeated to one another, “Be water,” an attitude of adaptability that was on full display as they occupied and vacated with equal swiftness five different neighborhoods.
“We can’t defend it!” was the cry that signaled to protesters it was time to move out. It meant that police had appeared and were firing tear gas. A person holding a large purple banner that said “Move Back Slowly” led demonstrators to the nearest public transit and toward another target.
Sunday’s rallies kicked off at public parks in different parts of the city.
After police began to clear the area, protesters converged on the other rally on Hong Kong Island.
Even when tear gas is not employed, many protesters wear masks and balaclavas to conceal their identities.
Umbrellas serve not only as tear gas shields but also as cloaks. A shout of “It’s raining!” will prompt protesters to form a canopy of umbrellas to conceal what’s going on underneath them, the building of barricades using metal road barriers, construction fences and other public materials tied together with string.
They also make efforts to resist surveillance. Security cameras are spray-painted black, obscured by umbrellas or covered with tape. As for cameras out of reach, protesters point bright lasers at them to distort their footage.
Activists have called for a citywide general strike Monday, when they plan to block public transit lines and freeways.
Subway trains got a taste of these plans Sunday when protesters packed inside stations on the way to their next rally site. At one point, an elderly woman yelled to them: “Be safe! Be like water, my friend!”
The phrase is borrowed from lines uttered by the late actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, who grew up in Hong Kong. Lee first expressed the idea on a 1970s American crime drama, and he later recited it in an interview.
“You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,” Lee declared, indicating that water’s “formless” nature makes it both versatile and threatening.
“Water can flow,” he said. “Or it can crash.”