Joint Press Conference in Response to the Situation in Hong Kong

Today (November 15), Borderless Youth Hong Kong, along with over a dozen civil society and student groups, held a joint press conference at 10 a.m. in front of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Hong Kong) under the banner "Unite against the tyrannical regime, make our last stand." They outlined the situation of the protests in Hong Kong as they enter their fifth month—including the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, the arrest of multiple pro-democracy councilors on the eve of the district council elections, casualties caused by police brutality, the territory-wide indefinite general strike, and police sieges of higher education institutions—and called on the public to refocus attention on the political violence and humanitarian crisis inflicted upon the people of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong-Beijing government.

A spokesperson for Borderless Youth Hong Kong, student Kuan, stated that over the past few days, the people of Hong Kong have experienced a heartbreaking and infuriating week. Hong Kong citizens launched a triple strike—striking from classes, work, and business—as well as the "Dawn Action" to paralyze traffic in the early morning, all simply hoping the government would respond to our five demands. However, the government's response to the Hong Kong populace was an attempt to storm the Chinese University of Hong Kong, thereby inciting even fiercer resistance from the people. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam accused the citizens' triple strike of destroying Hong Kong and pushing the city down a path of no return.

Borderless Youth Hong Kong strongly condemns the violence of the Hong Kong police, demanding an immediate independent investigation and a thorough reorganization to completely overhaul the police force

Once again, the government has ignored the citizens' triple strike and the root causes of the protests against the administration. A special administrative region government that cannot listen to the voices of the people, only engages in fake dialogues, and undermines the rule of law in Hong Kong, has instead issued a statement claiming it will "stop violence and curb disorder." Yet, they never realize that they themselves are the source of the disorder. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong police force, willingly reduced to a political tool, has arrested over 3,000 citizens in the past five months and subjected them to various acts of violence and even sexual violence. This is "using violence to create disorder," not "stopping violence and curbing disorder."