‘Hongkongers, not expats’: the foreigners who say they have joined the protests out of a sense of responsibility to their adopted city
- Both long-time residents and more recent arrivals, they say they fell in love with Hong Kong and admire protesters for standing up for their rights
- Some have joined marches while others are active in civic society, helping with protest material and translations
When Richard Scotford learned about the Hong Kong extradition bill protests, he could not help checking his mobile phone every five minutes for the latest news.
He was halfway across the world in Costa Rica, where he moved last year from Hong Kong with his wife and daughter, to be closer to nature.
“If the protests had happened last year, I wouldn’t have left,” he says. “My body was in Costa Rica, but my heart was here.”
One day, his wife told him: “Go back to Hong Kong.” He bought a plane ticket straight away and returned in early August for 10 days.
“I wanted to support the protests,” says the 47-year-old Briton, who considers himself a Hongkonger at heart and is a citizen journalist contributing to various online media sites in the city.
He is one of a number of foreigners who have become familiar faces at the ongoing anti-government protests, now in their fourth month, even though the city’s leader has said the bill itself will be withdrawn. Others include long-time residents and those, like Scotford, who consider Hong Kong home and feel solidarity with the protesters.
