September in Hong Kong

Monday morning I’m groaning into coffee while somewhere in Hong Kong, students are crashing against the gates of government. Hundreds of them, helmets, umbrellas against the pepper spray. Some get hurt. Some get arrested. This has been going on since September.

They want democracy. They want elections that mean something. They want some separation from mainland China. I don’t blame them. You watch their faces in the footage and you see people who’ve run out of patience with the alternative.

Isobel Yeung covered it for VICE—moving through crowds, talking to the kids doing this, the people opposing them, catching moments where you can almost feel the desperation. There’s a difference between reading that protesters got tear-gassed and watching someone actually in it, actually talking to Joshua Wong, actually there. It makes it real in a way that a news summary can’t.

I’m somewhere warm and safe drinking coffee. They’re risking something I’ll probably never have to risk. That’s the contrast I keep coming back to.