More than 400 students and residents rallied in the Boston Common Wednesday night to support a global protest for democratic elections in Hong Kong.
With candles and umbrellas in hand, hundreds of supporters cheered on the movement at the Parkman Bandstand as more than a dozen residents and organizers delivered words of hope and encouragement to the crowd.
After Chinese officials promised to hold the first free elections for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive since the region gained independence from Britain in 1997, they retracted the offer, insisting on filling the slot through a Beijing-based committee. Hong Kong students and residents have since protested the Chinese government’s pro-Beijing candidates for the upcoming election, sparking a resistance movement across the globe.
The Boston movement’s lead organizer Angela Kawai Chan said the demonstration, Candles in the Common, was an important display of solidarity with those pushing for free elections in Hong Kong, and the movement has spread quickly throughout the Boston area and the United States.
“We’re here to support what’s going on in Hong Kong and to raise awareness in America, because I feel like a lot of people think they know something, but not the real thing of what’s going on,” Chan said. “There are so many international students, Hong Kong students, here in Boston and the New England area, so we can just cry together, and be there for each other.”
Barton Liang, rally organizer and student at Tufts University, said mass protests like the one held on the Common signify that China is dishonoring their agreement, in turn disappointing the people of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the world.
“I hope that a lot more of our brothers in the United States get to know our cause, and what we’re fighting in Hong Kong, and understand how politics in Hong Kong works,” he said.
The “Wear Yellow for Hong Kong on October 1st” campaign was started by students at Harvard University to spread the word at other universities where students value common ideals of democracy and political autonomy to support the democratic movement in Hong Kong. The movement has spread to over 40 universities, including Boston University.
BU students sat in the George Sherman Union Link on Wednesday to hand out yellow ribbons, collect signatures for their banner to bring to the Common and spread awareness about the issue. After tabling at the GSU, the students traveled together to the Common to meet with other university students.
Kimberly Chan, a representative for Global Hong Kong Civil Alliance and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences who was at the rally, said the protests represent more than just one cause.
“This is not just about Hong Kong,” Chan said. “It’s important that we keep this integrity of our city and tell everyone about what’s happening in Hong Kong. It’s important that other people can follow suit in this chase of freedom everywhere in the world.”
Hong Kong natives Janice Ma and Christina King, fourth-year students in the Boston University School of Law, said many of their friends and classmates from home are participating in the protests.
“People are saying it’s the last chance for Hong Kong, and we feel kind of bad that we’re not at home at this moment,” Ma said. “We’ll just see what we can do to help. We really, really need genuine democracy as a matter of governance.”
Candles in the Common organizers distributed yellow cards, balloons and ribbons to participants and urged them to bring umbrellas to the demonstration, just as protesters in Hong Kong used umbrellas to block police pepper spray. After the speeches, attendees marched to the Massachusetts State House and tied yellow ribbons around the building’s gate.
College students from the Greater Boston and New England area made up the majority of the crowd.
“That’s why this is really important, not just for Hongkongers but for people around the world who value what democracy means to them, what rights mean to them,” said Heather Pickerell, a student at Harvard University who launched the Wear Yellow for Hong Kong campaign. “That’s why it’s so impressive how many Hongkongers have come out in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.”
Shing Chau, a high school student from Quincy, said it is important to extend solidarity to the protesters in Hong Kong.
“The high school students, the college students, we are all in the same generation,” Chau said. “The future counts on us, the future of Hong Kong and the future of Hong Kong’s democracy.”
Chanis Kong, an exchange student at Wellesley College, said she came to the rally to show support for her people.
“I’m here to show support for the peaceful protesters who are met with excessive violence by the police,” she said. “I’m just really touched by the people of Boston who are standing in solidarity with the people back home.”
