HONG KONG — Saturday night was solemn here as tens of thousands of people gathered to mourn the death of a protester — the first official casualty of the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Some people took the stage in Tamar Park to sing psalms and invited the crowd to pray as a long line of mourners carried white flowers and laid them on the stage. Others simply clung to each other as the crowd held a minute of silence for Alex Chow, a university student who died Friday.
Long line of people wait to lay white flowers as crowd is solemn here. “We’re in mourning” one person told me.
“Everyone is feeling sorrow right now. We are grieving,” said Ben, a 22-year-old protester who sat in the grass and listened to the ceremony. “I’m not optimistic about the development. I think there will be more violence, more injuries, and maybe deaths.”
He added, “I don’t see any signs that things can improve.”
As many people quietly mourned, protest chants shifted from “Hong Kong, add oil” — a common rallying cry meaning "keep up the fight" — to “Hong Kongers, seek revenge.”
Crowds chant the new "Hongkongers, take revenge" at Tamar Park in Admiralty, following the death of a 22-year-old HKUST student, who had sustained serious injuries near a police clearance operation.
Chow, who was 22, fell from the third floor of a parking garage where police were dispersing protesters last Monday. He died after several days in the hospital in a coma.
The exact circumstances of his fall remain unclear. Early news reports said that Chow was running from tear gas that police had fired in the car park. But CCTV footage does not show the fall, and police revised their initial timeline of events at a recent press conference.
Chow's death has only deepened the mistrust between Hong Kong residents and the police force as violence and arrests have continued to mount. More than 3,000 people have been arrested since the protests began in early summer. Amnesty International, among other human rights organizations, have accused the police of indiscriminate, unnecessary force, including beatings and torture of people in detention.
“I think the police should have some responsibility,” said 31-year-old Crystal, who was at the vigil on Saturday. “The government should do something. The police should be punished.” She added that she was disappointed by the government’s lack of response so far.
Unlike other recent gatherings, police had issued a letter of no objection for Saturday's event, allowing it to move forward legally. The night was largely peaceful. Organizers estimated 100,000 people attended the vigil.
The protests have stretched for more than five months, but both sides remain intractable. While the government has scrapped a bill that first sparked the large-scale protests in June, it has not made any movement to meet the protesters' other demands, which have remained consistent, including launching an independent inquiry into police violence.
Several people who spoke with BuzzFeed News showed their weariness on Saturday, admitting they were starting to lose hope.
“I’ve stopped thinking about the demands. No police [officer] has suffered any consequences,” said a protester who identified himself as Charles and has been working as a first aid responder in recent protests. “I just feel a little numb now.”
Like other protesters, Charles said, he doesn’t consider Chow's death the first of the protest movement. In mid-June, a protester died by suicide just before 2 million people marched through the streets of the city. His yellow rain poncho has been a frequent symbol in the demonstrations since. And in October, two protesters were shot with live rounds but survived.
Candlelit memorial for the protester who died by suicide on June 15 — many consider it the first death of the protests
Just before the vigil broke up, thousands of people held up the flashlights on their phones. And for a few minutes, Tamar Park was calm, dotted with white lights.