Protesters pose for photographs on a barricade at the occupied area outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Dec. 10, 2014.KIN CHEUNG/The Associated Press
For 74 days, pro-democracy protesters confronted Hong Kong authorities who resisted their call for freely chosen candidates for the leadership of China's wealthiest city. But as police made a final push on Thursday to clear their downtown protest site, students said their fight was not over, tossing pieces of paper that read: "We will be back."
Did the students really lose?
Leaders of Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement had two stated objectives when the protests began in September: to end Beijing's vetting of candidates in elections for Hong Kong's chief executive, and to force current executive Leung Chun-ying to step down. As of Thursday, the election rules are still in place and Mr. Leung is still in charge.
But the protests also roused lively debate about the prospect of democracy within China's communist system of government. In an interview with The Globe after being arrested, legislator Leung Kwok-hung called the movement a "courageous resistance with peaceful means," and said "we have not achieved our goal. But we were not defeated" – even if he held out the possibility that "I may be in jail in the next few months."
Has China really won?
The Hong Kong protests were a crucial test of leadership for China's president, Xi Jinping, who reportedly decreed that no blood be shed in police crackdowns on the protests. Allowing protests to proceed for weeks, with only occasional police interventions once the protests waned in November, appears to have paid off for Beijing.
But it remains to be seen whether the end of street protests will quiet calls for democracy. Beijing has already paid a price for the Hong Kong uprising in Taiwan, where the Kuomintang party, which favours closer ties to Beijing, suffered heavy losses in local elections last month.
What's changed now that the protests are off the streets?
The months-long street protests – and the umbrellas, used to ward off tear gas, that became their symbol – drew international attention to the pro-democracy cause, including statements of support from the Canadian government in September. Now that the protests are no longer a street spectacle being reported around the world, the movement risks fading in international attention. But on Thursday, protest leaders said public enthusiasm for the street protests was waning, and that the pro-democracy movement could achieve its goals without them.
"I think the spirit of the movement still lives, but the idea of occupying streets is over," student Andrew Chan, 20, told The Associated Press as he left the protest site on Thursday. "We can't even get a big crowd to come out today to fight the police clearing the site."
How did China avoid another Tiananmen?
The Umbrella Revolution began only a few months after the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a violent 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests that left at least dozens dead (although the real toll of dead, wounded and arrested is still unknown). Avoiding a repeat of the massacre held a special significance for China's current President, Mr. Xi, whose father, Xi Zhongxun, was reportedly one of the few senior Communist Party officials to publicly oppose the use of force in the Tiananmen demonstrations. But Mr. Xi also needed to avoid the appearance of weakness in the face of the pro-democracy demonstrations.
In the early days of the Hong Kong protests, images of protesters being tear-gassed and staring down police evoked memories of the Tiananmen disaster. But Mr. Xi reportedly decreed that no blood be shed. His decision appears to have paid off: While some street brawls over the three-month confrontation left police and demonstrators bloodied, officers also allowed protests to proceed unchecked until they died out in recent weeks.
- Nathan Vanderklippe on Tiananmen and China’s struggle with inequality
- Mark MacKinnon on Tiananmen’s legacy and its challenges for Mr. Xi
What happens next?
The protesters: Hong Kong police said Thursday that they arrested 209 people. With authorities likely to face pressure to hold protesters accountable, some of those arrested may face charges or orders to do community service.
Elections: Hong Kong elections are still scheduled for 2017, and are still subject to Beijing's terms.
The democracy movement: Going forward, protest leaders have said they will consider other forms of civil disobedience, given Beijing's continued refusal to grant any concessions. "Blocking government may be even more powerful than blocking roads," Benny Tai, one of the leaders of the movement, has said. "Refusal to pay taxes, delaying rent payments … and filibustering in the Legislative Council, along with other acts of non-co-operation, could make governing more inconvenient."
With reports from Nathan Vanderklippe, Mark MacKinnon, Reuters and Associated Press