Hk issue atlantic .pdf - • HONG KONG—Prior to his...

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HONG KONG—Prior to his second-ever district-council
meeting last week, Napo Wong, elected just a couple of
months ago, chatted with constituents who voiced concern for
protesters arrested during recent demonstrations here. Th e
residents who remembered Hong Kong’s wildly corrupt police
force of decades ago worried about what might be happening
to demonstrators once they were loaded onto vans or detained
for processing, out of sight of onlookers and journalists. Th ey
suggested that Wong address the issue at the upcoming
meeting.
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Wong agreed, but before heading to the council o ffi ces, he
stopped by a local market where his parents work as vegetable
vendors. He wanted to ensure his questioning of the police
would be memorable, so he procured a prop—a hunk of raw
pork.
Later that day, as he sparred with Hong Kong Police Force
Commissioner Chris Tang about allegations of police violence
during ongoing demonstrations, Wong made his move,
unpacking the meat from a red plastic bag and dangling it

from a piece of string. Wong’s theatrics were a reference
to Cantonese slang for framing someone, but even without the
linguistic explanation, his actions made clear his displeasure
with the way o ffi cers have been treating protesters.
Prodemocracy candidates such as Wong, buoyed by months of
demonstrations, won huge gains in November’s district-council
elections—the city’s only directly contested vote—capturing
majorities in 17 of Hong Kong’s 18 district councils. Th ough
the elections were for assemblies that have little power, the
outcome was a sharp rebuke of Beijing and an embarrassing
result for powerful pro-establishment parties, which
have blamed the current political climate on Carrie Lam , Hong
Kong’s chief executive, and her disastrous handling of a
controversial extradition bill. Prodemocracy councilors, for
their part, have reveled in the victory and discord: When they
o ffi cially began their tenures this month, they made quick
work of turning their positions into a continuation of the
protest movement.
Read: Hong Kong doesn’t have a pro-China ‘silent majority’
District councilors do not make laws, working instead on
community-related issues and overseeing day-to-day
neighborhood tasks. But already it is clear that the newly
elected representatives have plans to seize their popular

mandates and use their positions to aggressively challenge