HKFP Lens: Day One – Photos from the eye of the storm as Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement was born

HKFP Lens: Day One – Photos from the eye of 

the storm as Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement 

was born

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/09/27/hkfp-lens-day-one-photos-from-the-eye-of-the-storm-as-hong-kongs-umbrella-movement-was-born/

27 September 2016

Photos from the eye of the storm: On September 28, 2014, day one of the Umbrella Movement protests was unfolding around the legislature in Admiralty.


By Sunday morning, momentum gained from the week-long student strike was fading. The students that remained continued to reinforce barricades they had erected around the roads leading to the legislature. Others faced police in front of Civic Square, which had been cleared after students occupied the closed forecourt.

First aiders, some of them medical students, were prepared.

Other students were litter picking and sorting recycling.

Many had been on-site for days and had been sleeping on the LegCo grounds.

At around lunchtime, police had put Tamar Park and the surrounding roads on lockdown.

Protesters were allowed out of the area but were not allowed in. Hundreds began to gather at the bottom of the blocked escalator near the Admiralty MTR exit.

Meanwhile, on the harbour front side of LegCo, a pro-government rally was taking place.

The MC addressed dozens of supporters in Putonghua as patriotic songs were blared across the loud speakers. A banner complimented Hong Kong police on their professionalism.

Wary of tear gas being deployed, protesters wore goggles and face masks secured with cling film.

Concerned about press freedom, observers from the Independent Commentators Association arrived. Restrictions on the media were “exceptionally stringent” according to veteran journalist Ching Cheong (left).

Thousands were now beginning to fill Harcourt Road but were blocked from entering the LegCo area.

By mid-afternoon, police had begun using pepper spray on unarmed protesters.

Throughout the day, protesters chanted “CY Leung step down” and urged police to “open the area”, “release the students” and “step down from your duty.”

Police began deploying tear gas in an effort to disperse thousands who had descended upon Admiralty.

Protesters were treated with water, milk and sodium chloride.