[CUHK one month] Demonstrators from unity to differentiation "No big platform" and "occupation" difficult to coexist

Community topics

Written by: Huang Guigui, Lai Wenxin

2019-12-12 16:31

On November 12, on the Second Bridge of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, tear gas fired by the police and incendiary fire thrown by demonstrators collided with smoke and sparks overnight.

After preventing the police from entering the University of China, the demonstrators staying behind the University of China experienced a "civil strife" from unity to division over the next three days and two nights. Some were driving wildly, some shattered the glass, some held a press conference in the early morning, and finally some left in frustration.

At about 9 pm on the 15th, a truck of the Zhongda Property Management Office at the end of No. 2 Bridge was set on fire by the demonstrators, and dozens of explosions were heard. The five-day Sino-Dalian war and occupation ended in this explosion.

Thinking back to the occupation a month ago, Sunny, a junior college student, understood: "It is difficult to coexist with" Obtainment "."

Photography: Gao Zhongming

(To protect the interviewees, Sunny, Edward, An Qi and Temujin are pseudonyms in the text.)

Previous post: [One month at CUHK] Seeing the campus battlefield alumni demonstrators recall Yiyan Bridge

Sunny learned that the police had invaded CUHK on November 11, and immediately took a bus to support CUHK. She has remained behind at CUHK since then.

Unity: Guarding CUHK

At 10 pm on November 12, the battle of the Second Bridge of Zhongda ended in a piece of blue water, and the police withdrew from the bridge and the area of ​​Zhongda. Thousands of demonstrators remained at CUHK, and barricades and checkpoints were set up at the university station, the first bridge, the second bridge, the Chongji Gate and the four pillars and five entrances to isolate CUHK and form its own city.

Sunny is a fifth-year student at CUHK. On the afternoon of the 12th, he couldn't leave due to a foot injury. In fact, he didn't want to leave. He stayed at CUHK. "Worrying that the police will come in again. I want to defend the University. One is to defend the campus. The other is a strategic need." The so-called strategy refers to using the Erqiao Bridge to block the Tolo Highway and forcing citizens to "strike."

However, this original left-behind action of "guarding Zhongda" finally embarked on the path of "differentiation."

Until the morning of November 15th, Sunny was forced to leave the University because of the damage to the CUHK health department and needed to go to the hospital to treat a foot injury.

+3

+2

Destruction: Shattered Glass

After Sunny injured his foot, he originally planned to go to the health care department of the university on the mountainside. Before he arrived, he received the message that "the demonstrator broke the health care glass." As a result, the only place on the campus with more complete medical equipment was damaged. Sunny wants to leave CUHK for governance. "I don't understand why the glass of the health department needs to be exploded," he once found a reason for the saboteur. "I think, maybe they want to get first aid items. But then I couldn't make sense because ugym (university gym), material station There are first aid items. "

In addition to the health department, many university facilities were damaged, including the glass of the flyover (base bridge) of the Meng Minwei Engineering Building. Sunny was puzzled and couldn't think of any reason for refutation. "It's pure chaos." His tone was helpless.

Looking at the campus being unnecessarily damaged, some college students began to complain. Temujin, a college student, never regarded non-Chinese adults as "condom". "But I can't bear the fact that there are so many things on the campus that are destroyed. Because even The glass of the school office and the health department in some different departments have been shattered. Those obviously have no defensive or strategic purpose, but some people break when they see it, and destroy it when they see it. The adults will feel heartache when they see it. "

In addition to damaging university facilities and driving crazy, Sunny did not understand why the left-behinds had to set up roadblocks on the campus of CUHK. "It's cheap (Meng Minwei Engineering Building) and 3 and 4 hospitals, but it's completely unnecessary. "

I did n’t know they did n’t have a license plate when they boarded it. They thought it was a P plate, but the people in the school bus were only 14, 15, 21 years old. The oldest was responsible for driving.

Danger: The school bus is mario kart

On the first day of stay, Chinese and non-Chinese adults have grown up.

Sunny remembers that when the Battle of Bridge No. 2 ended, a young demonstrator approached a CUHK school bus. "At that time, the protesters opened the school bus for defensive (defense) purposes. They wanted to use the school bus as a roadblock to prevent the police from entering. CUHK. "Demonstrators watched the school bus slowly approaching and let Moses out of the Red Sea. Cheers rolled up on both sides like a tsunami, and the" driver "smiled with a smile.

However, when the demonstrators officially "occupied" the 137.3-hectare mountain town, they realized the importance of transportation. So there were demonstrators who acted as school bus drivers, and the left-overs carried the winding mountain roads in the mountain city.

Hearing a school bus accident, Sunny thought, "Someone must play, but not all. I believe some people really want to send other people back to the dormitory."

Sunny had taken the school bus once because of his mobility problems. He remembered that the school bus's chairs were broken and the door was open. He was a little worried. "

Another high school student, An Qi, took the "mario kart". "I didn't know they didn't have a license when I took it. I thought it was a P card. She was a little angry because she knew someone was injured.

There are left-behind people who serve as school bus drivers and pick up other left-behind people to shuttle to the mountain. (Profile picture / Photo by Li Zetong)

Car accident: can one person lose one foot?

Around 2 am on the 14th, a traffic accident occurred near Meng Minwei Engineering Building.

"My friend and I were eating cup noodles upstairs, and suddenly I heard" 嘭 ", and then a girl screamed," said CUHK alumni Edward. He and his friends immediately went downstairs to check. He saw a shovel truck hit the sidewalk railings. The driver just stretched his feet against the railings and his knees were against his chest. The whole man curled up in the compressed space inside the shovel truck. Edward saw that there was a rescuer at the scene, and he planned to clear the roadblocks so that the ambulance could enter CUHK.

The school bus is crowded with passengers. Sunny once boarded, "Some demonstrators drove the school bus to the left and right, like mario kart 咁." (Photo / Photo by Li Zetong)

"But when I went to the gate near Chongji, a Van was parked beside me. I saw a girl getting on the car. The door was not closed. The driver was already driving. The girl opened the door because she was not seated. He fell down, his foot was almost rolled over by the wheel, and I immediately pulled her out. The girl stayed a while, but the driver was fine. "Speaking of this episode, Edward was still a little angry.

But the thing that made him most angry was that the road was blocked by bricks left by Chongji. When Edward and his friends went to clean up, some leftovers questioned them. They explained that the roadblock was blocking the way of the ambulance. At this time, some people said, "If you have to clear it again, you will clear it up. If you want to clear it, then you will clear it?" They did not argue with him in order to grasp the time, but Edward's friends cried afterwards and said, What happened, did you pay back to others? "

[CUHK One Month] Principal Seeking Peace in Tears

[CUHK One Month] Resident Police Suspended By Police, Students In The Dormitory Gathered In Hall

[11.16 CUHK Atlas] The demonstrators retreated directly to the campus fire and the smell of water was full of arrows

Demonstrators erected a brick wall under Chongji Gate to prevent police from entering CUHK, but eventually prevented ambulances from entering CUHK to rescue the injured. (Profile picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Differentiation: you do not represent me

Dissatisfaction and anger gradually accumulated and finally broke out on the 15th.

At 3 am on the 15th, three demonstrators on the Second Bridge held a press conference to open one of each of the north-south line of the Tolo Highway and asked the government to promise to hold district board elections within 24 hours as scheduled. Before the press conference, An Qi listened to the frontline meeting in Erqiao. "I heard someone asking if I could drive the lane, but I couldn't hear the reason was the district election. In the impression, everyone tried to reach a consensus but failed."

After the press conference, the raging anger finally erupted. Tiemu really feels that the press conference does not represent the majority of the left-behind. "At the seminar, there were many reasons for the left-behind, including three strikes, and the police did not want to enter the campus, but the district election was never mentioned, and suddenly When I mentioned it, many people felt that I did so much and bleed so much blood to vote? "

In the early morning of that day, An Qi saw that there were leftovers in a bridge to persuade others to leave, but some people insisted, "I am strangling to death, many people, why do n’t you go home?" However, when she went to the bridge in the morning, People are already going to the bridge, "because after the press conference, morale in the school dropped to a low point."

Sunny believes that "non-differentiation, non-cutting of seats, and no benevolence" are the rules of this movement. "It cannot be denied that the movement can continue to this day also depends on this rule."

Because this is an anonymous, self-defeating campaign, everyone has their own interpretation, and one hundred people have one hundred opinions.

Occupation: Need a "big platform"

Sunny feels that the press conference is a watershed in the event of the occupation. "Everyone is divided into" you "and" me "by a" community. "Many people think that" you do not represent me "and" should not do this. " Sunny thinks about the reason for the differentiation. He believes that this is because "" no big platform "and" occupation "are difficult to coexist."

Under the "no big platform" protest model, it is difficult for the demonstrators to reach a consensus. On the evening of the 13th, the demonstrators held a discussion meeting at the Xia Dingji Stadium to discuss the issue of retreat and staying behind. Some people thought that staying was "because the second bridge can be controlled by the Tolo Harbour Highway." Some people advocated evacuating. It is more effective "; some people have suggested that staying behind by Chinese adults and the withdrawal of non-Chinese adults will cause dissatisfaction among non-Chinese adults. The discussion on" Did the non-Chinese adults be condoms? "

On the evening of the 13th, demonstrators held a discussion meeting at the Xia Dingji Stadium, but ultimately failed to reach a consensus. (Profile picture / Photo by Zeng Ziyang)

The fundamental difference between occupied areas and running-style protests is "getting along." The so-called "difficult to meet and get along well." When demonstrators want to spend time together in one place, disputes easily occur.

Sunny believes that this is an inevitable result. "Because this is a nameless, self-defeating movement, everyone has their own interpretation, and one hundred people have one hundred opinions."

However, during the three days and two nights during which Zhongda was occupied, Zhongda was in anarchy and "the occupied area became an undisciplined place." Sunny feels that to continue the occupation, it is necessary to formulate a charter, which requires a credible "big platform" to unify opinions and formulate regulations. "The fundamental difference between occupied areas and running-style protests is" getting along. "The so-called" difficult to meet and get along well. "When demonstrators want to spend time together in one place, disputes are prone to occur."

Sunny believes that the reason for the differentiation between "Chinese adults" and "non-Chinese adults" is that people have different identities. "Chinese adults see Zhongda as a home because we still want to live here; but for non-Chinese adults, here is There is no battlefield different from other places. "

Big platform: backwash of public opinion

In fact, during the occupation of CUHK, the CUHK Student Union tried to unite the opinions of the leftovers. For example, the "National Assembly" of the CUHK was held at 12 am on the 14th. Edward remembered that when a student spoke under the beacon in favor of retreat, news came from the scene that 40 demonstrators were heading to the Science Park to "strike the battle", and Million Avenue immediately became agitated. The second war was plagued. "But some people stood up and said," Hands, feet, and feet fight, and I'm going to accuse them? "Nearly half of the participants followed him and the National Assembly abruptly stopped.

Even if there is a slight word about some destructive behavior, Sunny said that he would not cut off from the front line, but would blame, "accusation is a self-healing process, I hope everyone can reply to the original: we are the community."

When middle school students convened the National People's Congress on Million Avenue, the non-CUHK leftovers who were far away from the Second Bridge believed that the Chinese adults had cut seats with them, and the convening of a National People's Congress with only Chinese adults was to exclude African and Chinese adults. The identities of "Chinese adults" and "non-Chinese adults" suddenly surfaced. Sunny once heard that some Chinese and non-Chinese adults felt that "Chinese adults know how to return to the old school, and I want to walk outside the street." He paused and continued, "Someone proposed to burn Cusu (University Students' Union), Zhong Someone held a baseball bat and pointed at the Student Union Officer. "

All kinds of conflicts have led the CUHK Student Union to insist that it is not a "big platform." Looking back on the nature of the movement, Sunny believes that "in this" no big platform "movement, if anyone tries to set up a big platform, it will attract public backlash." The big platform "is impossible to establish." So this movement It can only go towards "flowing resistance", not long-term occupation. "Sunny felt that the incident of CUHK occupation was a lesson.

Sunny has heard that some adults from China and Africa are not embarrassed: "The acquaintances of the Chinese people know how to return to the hostel, and I will walk on the street outsiders." (Photo / Photo by Li Zetong)

What is the difference between us and thugs? We have reason, and every action we take has justification. But everyone feels that this matter has lost its rationality.

Evacuation: irrational bomb

In an occupied area without a "big platform," contradictions and conflicts are growing like snowballs. At around 7 pm on the 15th, a message circulated among the left-behind: "Bombs were placed at the entrances and exits of CUHK, and demonstrators would lead the police to enter CUHK and detonate bombs." Leaving CUHK. Sunny also received a message, "What is the difference between us and the mob? We have reason, and every action we do has a reason. But everyone feels that this thing has lost its rationality."

At 9 o'clock in the evening, several police cars drove to the Tolo Highway, about 200 meters away from the Second Bridge. Demonstrators set fire to a truck of the Zhongda Property Management Office at the end of Erqiao Bridge, and ran towards the mountain. There were dozens of explosions at the scene. Hilltop. When the fire arrived, the demonstrators had dispersed, and the University of Hong Kong was silent. The University of Hong Kong incident that lasted five days and four nights ended.

"This is the best ending," Edward said.

At about 9 pm on November 15th, the demonstrators set fire on a truck on the bridge end of Erqiao, and dozens of explosions were heard at the scene. The five-day CUHK incident ended. (Profile picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Fugitive Regulations Reveals Demonstration Against Chinese University Students' Union