HONG KONG – For more than a year, the teenager’s weekends have been dominated by marches, during which she chanted protest slogans, built barricades and avoided tear gas shells, returning to her home in Hong Kong in the evenings. bruises and scratches.
As Beijing has stepped up its crackdown on pro-democracy lawmakers and student activists over the past year, however, participation in protests has become increasingly dangerous. And in December, the 15-year-old known to journalists and fellow protesters simply as “Aurora” boarded a plane to London, the ticket paid for by an anonymous Hong Kong activist.
The decision to seek political asylum in the United Kingdom made her one of the youngest exiles in Hong Kong.
“I was very worried that I was caught at the airport because I applied for asylum in the UK,” the teenager told NBC News, who asked for anonymity for fear that her family would be punished for her involvement in the protests. “But in flight, I finally felt safer and more relaxed for a long time.”
Her political awakening took place in June 2019, after about 1 million protesters took to the streets to protest against an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents accused of crimes to be sent to mainland China for to be judged.
Three days later, on June 12, she and her classmates attended a second rally in a crowded shopping district, which turned into one of the most violent demonstrations Hong Kong has seen in recent years. decades. Police fired rubber-covered bullets, tear gas and pepper spray at protesters. Some protesters attacked the officers and threw Molotov cocktails at them.
She said she was impressed by the solidarity of the activists.
“I always thought Hong Kong was cold to each other, but their unity moved me deeply and made me burst into tears,” she said.
Since then, she has become more politically engaged, reading the news every day, and forging close ties with her fellow demonstrators.
“I feel that the protesters look more like my family and I get along better than mine,” said the teenager, who added that her mother disapproves of her daughter’s activism. Her parents are divorced and she is estranged from her father.
The huge demonstrations that followed were fueled by fears that residents were losing their rights and the independent judiciary amid the erosion of the “one country, two systems” agreement in the region established when Britain handed over its colony back to China in 1997.
On June 30 last year, controversial national security legislation came into force, criminalizing actions that Beijing considers to involve subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces or terrorism.
Arrests of pro-democracy parliamentarians and student activists have become more frequent since the law was implemented.
In October, 19-year-old Tong Chung, a former leader of a pro-independence student group, was arrested and became the first high-level political figure to be charged under national security law. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence. More recently, in March, 47 pro-democracy politicians were arrested under the new law, the largest crackdown on the movement to date.
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On Friday, nine pro-democracy lawyers were sentenced to prison for organizing a march during the 2019 protests that sparked a crackdown in Beijing.
The United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over the repression in Hong Kong, with Washington labeling its actions an “attack on democracy.”
Beijing has challenged its actions in Hong Kong to defend its national sovereignty and called on other countries to “stop intervening” in its internal affairs.
Larry Lai, a lecturer in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Hong Kong, said young protesters tended to want to leave Hong Kong mainly for security reasons.
“The national security law and the way it is enforced justify their concerns,” he said.
The UK, in particular, has been an attractive destination due to its close ties with Hong Kong. In July, it announced a new visa program offering a special route for holders of British national overseas passports or the NBO to relocate to the country, with a fast track to citizenship. Nearly 3 million Hong Kong citizens have been offered refuge and a possible path to British citizenship, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in June.
This year, Beijing has said it will no longer recognize NBO passports as valid.
But refugee women – especially those who are minors – often have a more difficult time integrating into British society and gaining access to things such as housing and financial support, according to Nando Sigona, president of international migration and forced displacement and a specialist teacher. in migration at the University of Birmingham.
“Services and assistance are mainly aimed at single men and families,” he said.
For now, the teenager lives with a family in London and spends her time reading and studying while her asylum application is pending. One day, he hopes to be able to return home.
“I hope the Hong Kong protesters will not give up,” she said. “If you give up now, all our efforts are lost.”