Explainer | George Floyd protests: how Hong Kong anti-government unrest and United States rage over police brutality compare

Massive protests have swept the United States in scenes bearing striking similarities to the height of the anti-government unrest in Hong Kong last year. The demonstrations in the US coincided with President Donald Trump last week announcing his administration would start removing the special policy exemptions granted to Hong Kong, following its determination the city was “no longer autonomous” from mainland China. Violence and looting subside as George Floyd protesters defy curfews The move is in retaliation for a new national security law that Beijing plans to impose on Hong Kong. Trump had earlier decried the “deeply troubling” situation in Hong Kong, but later vowed to use the military to end the demonstrations on home soil. Here is a look at how the US and Hong Kong protests compare. What caused both sets of protests? In the US, angry citizens took to the streets in dozens of cities over the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. A video of the arrest, in which Floyd, 46, was heard pleading “I can’t breathe”, was widely shared online. At least 40 cities, including the US capital, have imposed curfews, while the US National Guard – reserve components of the Army – has been mobilised to quell violent protests. Observers said while it was Floyd’s death that sparked the protests, the root problem was many years of racial, health, social and economic inequalities in a country already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. But Trump has blamed Antifa activists for the protest violence, saying he would designate the anti-fascist group a terrorist organisation – a move that legal experts said could be difficult to implement. In Hong Kong, the protest movement erupted in June last year over Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed fugitives to be sent to mainland China, among other jurisdictions with which the city does not have agreements. At one of the early protests on June 16, organisers estimated 2 million people took to the streets in opposition to the proposed legislation, voicing their lack of faith in the mainland’s legal system. But the demonstrations soon morphed into a wider anti-government movement calling for police accountability and greater democracy, with increasingly violent clashes between protesters and officers. The protests have diminished in scale since January, when the city recorded its first coronavirus cases, but have recently shown signs of a resurgence as the Covid-19 situation improves. How have the protests developed in the US and Hong Kong? Protests turned violent in some US cities, with a Minneapolis police station set ablaze, widespread looting of retailers and police vehicles vandalised or destroyed. The demonstrations even spread to the nation’s capital of Washington, where businesses were boarded up and some of the country’s most sacred monuments defaced. At least five people have reportedly been killed in the unrest, and some 4,400 people arrested. US police responded to the protests with tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades and pepper spray. In Minneapolis on Friday, a CNN crew was arrested during a live broadcast, only to be released about an hour later, followed by the governor’s apology. Social media was flooded with photos and videos of reporters getting hit by projectiles fired by police. In several US cities, including Miami and New York, some police officers decided to kneel before protesters to show solidarity in rejecting racism. George Floyd death stirs Asian feelings on region’s own racial strife Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee down on Floyd’s neck, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The protests in the US stem from domestic issues; other countries have not weighed in publicly to condemn the government. In Hong Kong, protests started relatively peacefully in June last year but later turned violent with radical protesters throwing petrol bombs and bricks at police, setting barricades on streets as well as fires. Police responded with stronger forms of crowd control. As of February, at least 16,191 tear gas canisters, 1,880 sponge grenades, 10,100 rubber bullets, 2,033 beanbag rounds and 19 live rounds had been fired by officers when handling the unrest. Water cannons were also deployed. In the initial stage of the protests, Hong Kong police usually allowed the demonstrations, and action was only taken in response to violence. But the force later changed its strategy to make swift arrests before protesters could gather in large numbers. Trump’s America should handle its internal woes before criticising others In Hong Kong, protesters called for Donald Trump to intervene, arguing that only the US was powerful enough to deal with China, with American flags often seen at city protests. Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law last November, enabling the US to suspend the special trading status afforded to the city if it was deemed not autonomous enough from China. With months of protest experience under their belts, Hongkongers are well equipped with gas masks, umbrellas, goggles and helmets, and have developed techniques to counter police, such as placing traffic cones over tear gas canisters to snuff out the effect of the irritant. US protesters appeared to be less well-prepared. Media reports said they mainly used bricks and rocks to vandalise shops. What has been the public response to the protests? Most Americans sympathise with the nationwide protests over the death of Floyd and disapprove of Trump’s response to the unrest, according to a poll of 1,004 Americans released by Reuters on Tuesday. About two-thirds of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now”, while 27 per cent said they were not and 9 per cent unsure. More than 55 per cent of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40 per cent who did so “strongly”. Just a third said they backed his response – lower than the president’s overall approval rating of 39 per cent, the poll showed. In Hong Kong, a survey commissioned by the South China Morning Post six months after the massive protests broke out found that almost 80 per cent of 832 respondents from across the political spectrum and of different age groups were overwhelmingly pessimistic about their future in the city. The reputation of Hong Kong’s police force also took a severe beating, with nearly three-quarters of the city’s voters saying trust in officers had been eroded because of the protests. More than half of those polled said police actions had been harsh or excessive. Nearly a fifth of Hongkongers supported protesters “attacking opponents”, including hurling bricks and petrol bombs and damaging public facilities such as the MTR, while an even larger group backed less severe direct action such as vandalising businesses with links to mainland China and blocking transport systems. How has the leadership responded? In eight days of nationwide protests in the US, 62,000 National Guardsmen have been deployed, with more than 4,400 people arrested as protests broke out in all 50 states. Trump adopted a hard line at the beginning. In his conference call on Monday with the nation's governors, he threatened to deploy troops to restore order unless states “put down” violent demonstrations. But a day later, Trump appeared to soften his message, with White House officials saying this week's response to demonstrations across the country indicated that local governments should be able to restore order themselves. The shift came as protests in Washington and other cities over police brutality against minorities went ahead with relative calm, a striking contrast to the harsh crackdowns outside the White House earlier. In Hong Kong, embattled leader Lam initially dug her heels in after an estimated 1 million people took to the streets on June 9 to oppose the extradition proposals. She only decided to suspend the bill on June 15, three days after clashes erupted between officers and diehard protesters trying to besiege the legislature. The next day, an estimated 2 million people returned to the streets. It was only on September 4 that Lam formally withdrew the bill. By then, the political crisis had already snowballed. How did China react to threats of US sanctions? Last week, after the resolution for a national security law tailor-made for Hong Kong was passed in China’s legislature, Trump announced his administration would start stripping back the preferential treatment granted to Hong Kong under the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992. He also accused China of not keeping its promise to allow Hong Kong to retain a high degree of autonomy. Beijing and the Hong Kong government have accused the United States of double standards. Chinese officials hit out at the US for hailing protesters as heroes in Hong Kong but labelling demonstrators stateside “rioters”. Chinese propaganda outlets have used violent scenes of the US protests to showcase how Western democracies are often plagued by chaos and unrest. Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said on Monday: “Why did the US glorify the so-called pro-independence forces in Hong Kong as heroes, but call the protesters disappointed with racism in the US rioters?” Hua Chunying, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, brought attention to America’s racial unrest by quoting Floyd’s dying remarks of “I can’t breathe” in a tweet. Hong Kong leader Lam accused the United States of “double standards”, pointing to the tough approach it had taken at protests to safeguard its security while attacking Beijing for drafting a national security law for Hong Kong.