'Do You Think HK Is More Important Or My Grades?'

From a construction worker who has not gone to work for days to a student who is preparing for her fourth form exams, the protesters who have come out to oppose the extradition bill have varied backgrounds.

While the vast majority of the estimated two million people who took to the streets on June 16 against the proposed change to Hong Kong's extradition law have gone back to their normal lives, a handful of protesters have been refusing to leave the protest area outside Legco, in the hopes that their demands will be met.

More than a dozen protesters have even been returning day after day, or even spending their nights there, to insist on a full withdrawal of the bill rather than an indefinite suspension.

Form four student Zoe, who was outside Legco on Tuesday, said she is not worried the time she’s spending on protests may affect her exam grades. “Do you think Hong Kong is more important or my grades?" she asked.

One university student who was there also was also unconcerned about his upcoming exams. He said he had skipped school since the first mass protest on June 9.

“I do have a couple of exams left,” he said. “I’d just study my notes on the phone.”

But such passions were not exclusively demonstrated by the young – the motley crew outside the Legco had a sprinkling of people of other ages also.

Andy Chi, who is in his 30s, was there to support the protest even though he was came back on a break from Norway where he is working as a landscape architect. Though he was on a holiday, Chi said he felt he had to do his part before returning to work.

One middle aged protester, who said he was a construction worker and didn't reveal his name, claimed he hadn't gone to work since the protests started.

"I haven't gone to work since June 9,” he said. “It’s the endgame, I have to come out even though I don’t have any income during the period.”

Echoing his words were a another man in his 30s who didn't give his name but said his friends call him "Orangehead". "I came on June 9, 11, 12 as well. It’s basically almost every day. I did go back home to take a shower, get changed and perhaps a nap, and then I come back again," he said.

"I am here whenever there’s something major. I’d stay here to help other people out. Maybe there’s not much I can do, but I’d be unwilling to just stay home."

He said he and his friends had taken part in the Occupy protests in 2014 also. "I didn’t go to work for three months [during Occupy]."

But there was no waning of his determination despite the lack of earnings. "I do face a lot of economic pressure. I don’t have much savings, I live from paycheque to paycheque, so once I stop working I don’t have any money left."

"But I cannot simply be an ignorant Hong Konger and carry on with my job and earn money. Especially as the police had fired [rubber bullets] and a protester took his life. I don’t care anymore," he said.