Policing young protesters in social movements : the case of Hong Kong

Abstract

This dissertation examines the factors contributing to the violent strategies of young protesters by protest policing by analysing a key event in the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Amendment Bill protests – the Siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Six semi-structured interviews were conducted from the perspective of protesters. It is not to generate a biased thesis, but to analyse the opinions from this group. Elaborated Social Identity Model are evident across the violent responses from young protests during the Siege of PolyU. Responding to protest policing, which is regarded as indiscriminate and disproportional, young protesters set up identity boundary between them and police. Due to the solidarity formed among their in-group, young protesters act violently as what their peer do. However, self-categorization does not imply that all young protesters act violently due to their recognition to in-group. Some young protesters generate the fear of being a betrayer or having the feeling of excitement when they adopt violent protesting means. Another essential factor causing the violent Siege is the police-protester interaction. Due to the ineffective persuasive strategies by police, both parties adopt violent means and escalation of force to confront with each other and, eventually, a viscous cycle is resulted. However, due the wider range of devices and strategies that police can adopt, disproportional force is perceived by young protesters, which further strengthens the influence caused relating to ESIM.