Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. The political system of the former colony and China differs markedly and at the surrender they adopted an approach which is usually called "one country, two systems". This means that Hong Kong has had to maintain a certain autonomy and its own judicial system. There are a few other Chinese provinces that enjoy the same type of exemption.

Hong Kong is governed by a council chaired by Carrie Lam and who is subordinate to the Chinese state.

That is why the protests began

In April 2019, a bill was introduced that would increase the possibility of extraditing suspected criminals from Hong Kong to China. Critics of the proposal said it would increase China's control over Hong Kong, that it would lead to politically motivated trials and that China could use the law to silence activists and journalists.

The proposal triggered the protests that are still ongoing. Since the beginning, 100,000 protesters have participated.

So it went with the bill

After weeks of protests, Carrie Lam said the bill would be tabled until further notice. But this was not enough for the protest movement, which now also widened its demands. Among other things, they demanded that the police's brutal way of handling the protests be stopped and more general demands were made for a democratization of Hong Kong.

In September, the bill was withdrawn completely. But neither was this enough to stop the protests. The reaction was that the withdrawal was made too late and that it was not enough.

So the protests and violence escalated

Even before the draft law was withdrawn, the clashes between police and protesters had become increasingly violent.

On October 1, the day of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's rule, was one of the most violent and chaotic days for the Hong Kong protests. An 18-year-old protester was shot by police with sharp ammunition. The protesters threw fire bombs and fired projectiles at the police.

As a result of the violent protests, the local government banned masking we demonstrations, which further contributed to the dissatisfaction.

In early November, a China-loyal politician was stabbed. A week later, another demonstrator was shot at close range by the police. On the same day, protesters set fire to a person.

Local elections and the occupation of the university

In November, protesters also occupied the University of Hong Kong's Polytechnic University for days. The campus was surrounded by police who were waiting for the protesters and arrested those over 18 who left the area.

Later in November, an election was held for the local governing council and the democracy movement won big. 17 of 18 seats in the Council are now held by pro-democracy members.

Despite this, the demonstrations continue.