The Fight For Votes

"Hong Kong Activists Defy Police Tear Gas As Protests Spread"
By: James Pomfret and Yimou Lee
Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/28/hong-kong_n_5897038.html

A riot advanced in Hong Kong during the early hours of Monday where democracy protestors were out in the streets. Riot police fired volleys of tear gas that sent the protestors fleeing and others trying to build barricades to block the security forces. Earlier, police came out to move all the protestors who were blocking a main road as a warning because of the illegal demonstrations. There were numerous fights that broke out between gas masks, riot gear, police in helmets and tear gas that had not been used since 2005.  This is becoming a serious problem for Beijing leaders, because these calls for democracy could spread to major cities on the mainland and decrease their power. Police then used pepper spray against the activists and began to shoot tear gas in the air. "If today I do not stand out, I will hate myself in the future,"(1). When Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, universal suffrage was set as a goal. Beijing last month denied the rights for people to choose freely on the next leader, which sparked these riots in Hong Kong. Student movement leaders had occupied the lobby of Hong Kong's representative office to show their support for the democracy protestors. As mentioned before, police had not used tear gas in Hong Kong since trying to break up protests by South Korean farmers against the World Trade Organization in 2005. This time, protestors have decided to never give up until their rights are handed to them. Police, so far, have arrested seventy-eight people, yet citizens have not decided to back down.

This shows how eager people are to fight for what they believe is theirs. The citizens of Hong Kong continue to protest until they gain the right to vote for their next leader.