With No 2nd Amend., HK Residents Face Live Ammo Armed with Bows and Arrows
The necessity of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment can be seen in the people of Hong Kong’s struggle for independence from the communist Chinese government. Residents of the city are forced to turn to archery and other medieval methods of defense while facing police armed with live ammo.
Officers confronted protesters with the threat of deadly live ammunition as activists holed up inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University, NPR reported Tuesday.
This isn’t the first time bullets have been fired by Hong Kong police during the protests.
Facing a foe with superior technology and armaments, protesters are now forced to get creative.
Javelins and arrows, taken from sporting goods stores, universities or private collections, are now being distributed by some protesters as confrontations with police escalate.
Protesters in Hong Kong armed themselves with javelins and bows and arrows following savage overnight clashes with police, who warn the city is on the brink of collapse https://t.co/wAHlLDmKdw pic.twitter.com/h8F0cjTvLB
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 13, 2019
Although these small projectiles can keep police at bay, the tools are useless against the riot shields and armored vehicles employed by the aggressive lines of law enforcement.
Catapults, cobbled together with zip ties, bamboo and elastic bands, serve as heavy artillery for the protesters.
Video of the makeshift siege weapon lobbing firebombs over great distances is making its way out of the city, showing the protesters’ ingenuity and defiance in the face of totalitarian control.
During the siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, protesters have used a range of weapons to hold off riot police: https://t.co/gXLOb59G93
At the fortified campus, CNN saw how protesters used a makeshift bamboo catapult to slingshot petrol bombs at police lines. pic.twitter.com/Lrk1HYRl6Z
— CNN (@CNN) November 18, 2019
Fresh protests, medieval methods.
With wooden catapults to launch petrol bombs and bows and arrows pilfered from sports departments, Hong Kong’s democracy demonstrators are combining new tactics with ancient tech as they battle police pic.twitter.com/tvt2ULBy4J
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 15, 2019
Not every dissenter is fighting on the front lines of the protests.
Some are hard at work cobbling together an arsenal of democracy. Universities serve as staging grounds as students assemble explosives and firebombs.
Stashes of pre-made Molotov cocktails and explosive IEDs placed in the road show that even without guns, crude solutions can help people fight for their freedom.
From inside Polytechnic University in #HongKong – a large amount of rocks, bricks, petrol bombs – thousands of students mobilising to fortify their university. They’ve also blocked the cross harbour tunnel and surrounding roads – which will likely prompt police to act pic.twitter.com/YcAhJJh6hr
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) November 14, 2019
Butane gas canister explosives laid out earlier at Polytechnic University in #HongKong. Later in the evening they had been removed from the entrance to the campus. pic.twitter.com/1ig85xUMN3
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) November 14, 2019
The protests started as Hong Kong citizens rallied against a pro-China bill that would allow the communist government a shocking amount of power when extraditing prisoners, leading to fears that it would be used to crack down on pro-democracy advocates.
Protesters have taken to the streets since March, and the violence has only escalated from there.
While the police appear unwilling to back down, anger from Hong Kong residents only continues to grow.
Without firearms, however, their attempts to remain independent may be doomed.
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