Global Financial Market Review

Thousands of anti-extradition protesters gathered at MTR stations across Hong Kong on Friday evening in an attempt to form massive human chains in yet another novel way to pressure the Carrie Lam administration to agree to the movement’s demands.

The human chains, dubbed “The Hong Kong Way” mirrors the Baltic Way protests exactly 30 years ago, when more than a million protesters from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a human chain spanning nearly 700 kilometres across the then-Baltic states which were still part of the Soviet Union. The states eventually all gained independence.

Protesters are hoping to link people all the way from Tsuen Wan to Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Tong on the Kowloon side, and from Kennedy Town to Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island, in a peaceful demonstration across 39 MTR stations.

Participants were quickly organised into smaller groups, then sent to specific locations where they were needed, while chanting slogans like “free Hong Kong!” and “dissolve the police force!”

A 40-year-old man surnamed Lam who works in the engineering sector, said he’s joining the Hong Kong Way in Tsim Sha Tsui as a new way to press the government to respond to the five key demands of protesters.

However, he’s wearing a mask to conceal his face, so the police and his boss won’t know he is participating. He explains that he feels that a “wave of white terror” is spreading across the city.

The event is scheduled to run between 7pm until 9pm, with the full human chain scheduled to form at around 8pm.

Participants hope to put more pressure on the government to respond to the demands of the anti-extradition movement, which include the complete withdrawal of the now suspended-bill and to launch an investigation into how police have handled the recent protests.