Across Hong Kong, New Lennon Walls Spring Up

A man, who gave his name simply as Mak, scribbled his demands on a colourful post-it memo and stuck it among the hundreds of similar notes on the Lennon Wall that has sprung up in Tai Po.

The young man said he had travelled all the way from Kowloon to post his message there.

Mak said he was impressed by the images of the long Lennon Wall in Tai Po and decided to post a memo himself for the first time. "This is the most peaceful way to express people’s opinions," he said.

Such Lennon Walls are springing up across the city as the anti-extradition bill campaign continues and protests seem to be morphing in new ways.

Over the past few days, almost all districts in Hong Kong have seen Lennon Walls emerge, in places such as underground tunnels and footbridges, enabling people to post their demands, display posters or draw pictures. The majority of the messages appearing seem to offer encouragement to the protesters, asking them to stay strong.

The first Lennon Wall appeared in Hong Kong during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, where people stuck post-its and posters on the concrete staircase near the Central Government Offices in Admiralty.

The same spot became a similar Lennon Wall again last month as the extradition bill protesters briefly occupied Harcourt Road. But that disappeared after being vandalised by a rival group.

But now the protesters have changed tactics, organising Lennon Walls in different places. Some large, some small. And some attracting the anger of government supporters.

Images of people ripping down posts from the Lennon Walls have surfaced on social media.

Irene, who said she lives in Tai Po, said she thinks the protesters have been doing too much.

"Carrie Lam has already apologised and suspended the bill," the 67-year-old said. She said she believes the extradition saga has come to an end and people should stop bringing up the issue.

She said she was also disturbed by the nature of some of the messages posted.

Some people put up photos and personal information of police officers on the Tai Po Lennon Wall, and police were there in the early hours of Wednesday to remove them.

But later in the day, an RTHK reporter found that photos and personal information of police officers had already been put back up.

The earlier police action came in for some criticism and online sarcasm.

Mak thought it was an exaggerated move to deploy officers in full riot gear, just to tear some memos down.

A student named Angela, who had come to see the Tai Po wall, said she thinks the police were trying to scare people away by coming out in riot gear.

On social media, images resembling movie posters were circulating to mock the police action. One was like a Lion King poster, with pictures of officers weaved into it. The word "Lion" in Cantonese sounds like "tearing off paper".

Another showed a picture of officers apparently removing some of the notes, with the words Finding Memo superimposed, alluding to the title of the popular cartoon movie Finding Nemo.