#LastYearToday #Interview
One Year On: PolyU Student Recalls Traumatic Memory of #PolyUSiege

Part 1/4

[Editor's note: The Hong Kong Police attacked the Polytechnic University for the first time on Nov 11, 2019 and intensively since Nov 17. On Nov 18, thousands of Hongkongers protested in areas nearby the university, hoping to rescue the civilians entrapped inside the campus.

The violent dispersal operation by the police had caused a stampede, injuring many along Nathan Road.

Having besieged the university for 13 days, the police arrested more than a thousand civilians and injured countless.]

It has been one year into the police's siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (#PolyU).

During the siege in November 2019, Citizens News had conducted an interview with the acting president of the university's student union Ken Woo Kwok-wang. The 22-year-old Ken was wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, slightly showing exhaustion on his face.

He was reserved when talking about the condition of those who stayed behind in defence of the PolyU campus. The reporter of Citizens News did not ask further, so as to not provoke the emotion of the protesters.

One year has passed, the reporter met with Ken again, hoping to learn more about what had happened.

Ken is not wearing his glasses anymore. He cut his hair short and has apparently lost some weight. It is as if he needs to look like a different person, in order to part way with that traumatic memory.

Ken admitted frankly that he is afraid of bringing it up with friends, as his friends think he has experienced a lot. Ken said, "I've seen those who were much worst than me [during the siege]. I don’t think I did anything extraordinarily well. I felt a little bit guilty. My friends and other people have some
expectation for me and think I have done something, but I don't really think so."

Whenever he hears sayings like that, he has a headache. There is something he cannot overcome, still.

Continue Reading Part 2/4:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26748

Source: CNews #Nov14
https://tinyurl.com/y3vspxq7

#KenWoo #PolySU #Trauma #HongKongProtests #ProtestersStory #AntiElab #HongKongChronicles
#Interview

#PolyUSiege #LastYearToday
Student Recalling Police Siege of University: No Place is Always Safe, and There's Nothing the Police Wouldn't Dare to Do

Part 1/4:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26738

Part 2/4

According to the then-acting president of the Student Union Ken Woo, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (#PolyU) was the first university attacked by the police during the Anti-Extradition Bill Protest in 2019.

It happened before the Battle of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK). On the morning of November 11, 2019, it began with the police firing two rounds of tear gas into the PolyU campus at around 6:30am.

As Woo recalled, he dashed from the campus D Core Exit to the bridge connecting to Hung Hom Train Station after he heard some noises from that direction.

When he arrived, the police were already inside the campus, passing by the Democracy Wall. An officer pointed his gun at his head and ordered him to leave.

15 minutes later, police fired tear gas inside the campus. At that point, Wu realized that there was no going back.

PolyU had become a thorn in the eyes of the police. Woo said that it was not new to have police monitoring the campus; after every demonstration on Hong Kong Island, there would always be about 60 to 70 uniformed officers at the Cross Harbour Tunnel bus stop beside PolyU, conducting bag and vehicle inspections.

On October 1st, 2019 [PRC's National Day], police were even guarding each exit of the university, searching the bags of everyone who left or entered the campus. 

Even so, Woo still felt that the university was his safe haven, until tear gas were fired into the campus. That was the moment when he realized that no place is always safe, and that there is nothing the police would not dare to do.

“The bridge was filled with happy memories of my 4 years of university life. I recalled every moment walking on the bridge with my committee members, laughing happily.” Woo said, "Witnessing that moment [the siege by the police] when everything I knew has irreversibly changed, that the campus I used to know has turned into a battle field, it was a shock."

Continue Reading Part 3 / 4
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/26777

Source: CNews #Nov14
https://tinyurl.com/y3vspxq7

#KenWoo #PolySU #Interview #HongKongProtests #ProtestersStory #AntiElab
#HongKongChronicles
#Interview