The recent protests, political unrest, and overall chaos occurring in Hong Kong right now were triggered by the introduction of the extradition bill by the Hong Kong government in June of 2019.
Students are our future, how can they slaughter and destroy our future? #HongKong #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/EgLhZBB4Yj
— KatyyHKG (@HLKaty) November 13, 2019
Overall, Twitter is a place that is pretty encouraging of the protestors in Hong Kong as it is one of many social media platforms blocked in China.
⛓️ A human chain in Hong Kong's Central financial area to send supplies to the front line falls apart after a seeming threat emerges #HongKongProtests #香港 pic.twitter.com/GWo9OCbIRW
— Bloomberg TicToc (@TicToc) November 13, 2019
#FreeHK #HongKongProtests #HongKongPoliceViolence #HongKong https://t.co/8aqN1hwLis
— Candy Jelly (@141112_8) November 13, 2019
Nonetheless, there are still users supportive of the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) who voice their opinions on Twitter making claims stating that many protestors are paid by western forces to fight the Chinese government.
#HongKongProtests paying to the children to be protesters. Since when democracy can be bought? Since always. American democracy endowment is doing their job of color revolution. pic.twitter.com/bdGrumOYVR
— Joseph yang (@yang_shiming) November 13, 2019
Although a lot of criticism towards Hong Kong protesters are from personal accounts, many people are questioning and condemning many media outlets of bias reporting. The main one being the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong English language newspaper, especially since it is owned by Alibaba, a very large and extremely powerful Chinese holding company based in the mainland.
#LIVE: “I call on citizens to distance themselves from these violent acts,” says Hong Kong's No 2 Matthew Cheung. “Violence is not a way out and would never succeed." https://t.co/whKrlkc7K4 #hongkongprotests
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) November 13, 2019
The statement from our Secretary for Security that the SCMP live-streamed stated that “The police force has a legal responsibility to take action when [someone] breaks the law in Hong Kong” goes against a lot of Hong Kong people’s understandings since police themselves have broken the law, and many of the ongoing protests are in response to arbitrary arrests in addition to the cruel and brutal reactions police have towards not just protestors but civilians as well.