Why Joshua Wong is poster child for resistance movement

The hopes of many Hong Kong protesters have fallen on the young shoulders of Joshua Wong, a poster child of the city’s peaceful civil resistance movement for the past five years.

Like the teenagers experiencing their first taste of street protests over the divisive extradition bill, Mr Wong was just 17 when he became a high-profile leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, which locked down city streets for two months in a demand for fully free elections.

Mr Wong, who electrified crowds with his calls for civil disobedience, was back to his old form yesterday after his unexpected early release from a twomonth jail term on charges related to the 2014 rallies.

“After the end of the Umbrella Movement, we claimed we would be back. Finally, five years later, we did it,” said the self-assured young activist.

“It’s lucky that Beijing and Carrie Lam transformed a whole generation of youngsters from normal citizens to dissidents. That’s the price that Beijing must pay,” Mr Wong said.

The extradition controversy has led many Hong Kongers born after the 1997 handover to China to realise that it will ultimately fall to them to fight to protect the city’s treasured independence and freedoms.

For the younger generation, Mr Wong, 22, is an inspirational leader to rally behind.

He remains a headache for mainland China, with his tale narrated in the 2017 Netflix

documentary Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower.

Just hours after his release, he addressed cheering protesters with his cries for democracy. He asked supporters for time to recalibrate his strategy, but vowed to return to the front lines.