A Lonely Flag: Protesting Against Israel in Hong Kong
Causeway Bay has always been a destination for demonstrations. Historically, the nearby Victoria Park was the site for the yearly vigil to remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In 2019, it was a gathering point for the street protests. Now, a food and goods fair conveniently appears in time to occupy Victoria Park on the anniversary of the massacre, and a heavy police presence deters any but the most fatalistic from openly showing their subversiveness. Those that do are arrested swiftly and filmed by curious bystanders as they are.
Now, you are most likely to find dance groups recording their routine on the road outside Festival Place, or advertisements for product releases or local initiatives.
But this doesn’t mean a complete absence of civil discontent. Grandma Wong, who I have previously interviewed, still waves a Union Flag even years after the National Security Law came into force in 2020. And still too, if you step outside the station on Tuesday nights, you may see a Palestinian flag above people’s heads being held by another brave lady, although one that prefers to remain anonymous. For the purposes of this article, we will call her P.
P, who is now retired, has previously witnessed – and suffered – the hostility of the Israeli government towards Palestinians when she had lived in Palestine for around 15 months, about 40 years ago. When she first arrived, she had no knowledge of the political situation between Palestine and Israel, and travelled to Gaza out of curiosity. Ultimately, she was arrested.
“I was locked up, and then they threw me in the desert,” P told me, with a chuckle.
“I saw what they did to the people in the night. I still remember the sounds they made and the images I saw.” She lamented the fact that things have only become worse since then.
P began protesting against the Gaza War in May of 2024 while living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. However, as the police presence tightened, and she was unable to access the Harvard Campus to do research at the library, she gave up her green card and returned to Hong Kong.
P is regularly helped by another protestor, Josie, who had previously protested in the United Kingdom before meeting P.
“You’re OK with (using) your name?” asked P.
"Yeah, I’m leaving in two months,” Josie replied. A coincidence that I too was leaving in two months (and both of us for the same reason).
Josie met P in 2025 after bumping into her in the street. She now joins her regularly, as she was when I interviewed them. She became a regular protestor with P after P’s first large attack, one which involved the police and even reached the courts. “Strength in numbers,” she referred to it as.
“There were other people who (offered), but you are the only one who carried through,” P added.
Josie referred to the decades of oppression that the Palestinians have suffered under Israel, but how it only became widely understood after the events in 2023. With that, there is an increased understanding of how Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom are so invested in maintaining Imperialism into the present day. Palestine has now become a symbol, for better or worse, for other states in similar situations (such as Haiti, the Congo, or Sudan) suffering similar circumstances. Though she felt she still was not doing enough, every little conversation or appearance on the street improved awareness in her view.
But the circumstances of the war have changed considerably since the onset. The world has a short attention span, and since the third ceasefire in late 2025, conversations around Gaza have largely stopped happening in the mainstream media (one example of this would be the BBC’s website removing the ‘Israel-Gaza War’ tab on their news section). Even P’s sign, which originally read ‘Stop the Genocide’, has been changed to ‘Stop the Occupation.’ So, why continue to focus on Gaza?
“As I said, I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” she began. “I know that if (the occupation of Palestine) continues, the world will never be at peace. Israel is becoming more and more psychopathic, attacking (its neighbours), and the more the situation plays out, the more we realise how much influence Zionists have on world affairs. If we don’t solve this Palestinian problem, the world will never be as we want, especially with the military industrial (complex) encouraging conflicts around the world.
“If we don’t make the Zionists realise they need to treat people equally, there will be no peace for anybody, even them. I feel I am fighting for myself to be free from Zionism.
“I think I have a responsibility as an older person, and after (living with and seeing how American) capitalism has downgraded everyone’s lives. So, I think we need to look at this problem too, or your generation will only have two employers to work for…for 80 hours a week. Even though I don’t have to work, I still feel I need to fight for you guys,” P say, laughing again. “I don’t have anything to lose.”
“This is why we support Palestine Action so strongly back home,” Josie interjected.
As a group of people walk past us, she and P both shout Free Palestine! in a cadence similar to merry Christmas. “I never really know what tone to use,” Josie laments.
“I announce, I don’t wait,” P added, “I just say ‘Palestine will be free!’” As if to prove her point, the next couple that passed us were heralded in just this way.
After this, I asked the same question to Josie: despite the changing circumstances, why continue to protest?
She pointed out there is still an active genocide. “We all know it’s a false ceasefire; people are still being killed every day. The disgusting new issue of the yellow line –“
(“And the orange line in Lebanon! All kinds of colours!” P reminded us) -
“…this is grounds for genocide. An entire population (is living) in unliveable conditions. It may not be thousands dying every week, but it’s still too many.” Josie draws specific attention to Hind Rajab and her family, all of whom were killed when their car was shot 335 times by an IDF tank.
“Unfortunately, it’s not in the mainstream media anymore. There’re too many distractions; the Iran Wat, the oil crisis, the Epstein Files. I think Palestine has become a symbol of collective liberation.” She paused to think for a moment. “Some people came and asked, ‘why not (protest about) other countries? Why not protest Iran?’ They are asking us to change focus, to forget Palestine again, and I think it’s important for us to maintain that attention.”
I then change focus to other people’s reaction to their protesting. You don’t have to look far, especially in Hong Kong, to understand there can be consequences to self-expression. Had it been positive, negative, apathetic?
Aggressive would be the optimal word.
“I have been attacked many times,” P revealed. “I have been spat at, kicked, pushed, and locked up by the police. It shows you how aggressive and entitled people are in Hong Kong. The Zionists in China…told me to go home, back to China. They think they own Hong Kong. I was attacked twice in the span of two days.” She had even been hospitalised by the viciousness of some of these attacks, P said. Josie revealed she even had footage of P being attacked. In general, however, it seemed P had only ever been attacked when alone.
However, Josie did highlight one instance. “I remember a time a man stood in front of us before spitting straight at P and continuing to walk on. I was in shock, then we both started screaming, and even though the police were here, they didn’t watch the action, they didn’t go after him. I went up to them and said, ‘why the fuck are you here if you (are just going) to watch an attack like that happen?’ They asked, ‘who are they, where are they?’ but it was too late by then.” There had been a case that day before I arrived, however, where the police stepped in much more quickly.
Josie began, but then hesitated, on her next examples, but ultimately continued.
“Self-proclaimed Zionists, Israelis, (had) come up to say ‘Hamas are terrorists’, but also to gloat.”
“Like a football team after winning a game?” I asked.
“Yes, sometimes, or they also say, ‘the genocide is over,’ which I find interesting, because they are admitting that there was a genocide at some point. It never seems to come from a defensive point of view, it’s just hatred.”
Next, I asked them what they hoped to achieve with their protests.
“I just want people to drink less Coca-Cola,” P said, in reference to the company’s relationship with Israel. She continued that since people don’t have the money or weapons to fight back any other way, small actions are the only way forward. We cannot change the result of the war, but we can signal to those involved through our spending habits that we don’t agree with their actions.
At this point, our conversation was interrupted by plain clothes police officers, who I hadn’t realised were standing nearby the entire time. They suggested that we begin to leave since it was past 8pm. P informed me that they were there for her protection, as they likely wanted to avoid another attack that would make news online or elsewhere. On Tuesdays in Causeway Bay, they always monitored her, but in other parts of the city such as Tsim Tsa Tsui, there are lots of Muslims in the area to protect her instead. She may cooperate with the police for one day to have six days of freedom to protest without risking clashing with m.
Josie’s perspective was largely the same as P’s. “Sometimes we can also strive for awareness and visibility, and if you can just…affect people (and) make them realise there are small acts we can take to (avoid supporting) genocide. Keep the visibility (and) conversation alive around Palestine, as there really isn’t much (discussion) in Hong Kong.”
“How long will you protest for?” was my next question.
P’s response was surprising initially. “People on the street wish (that I) carry on doing it. I say ‘really? I don’t want to carry on doing it!’ If they (Israel) carry on, it will really depend on my health. I don’t know how much more my body can take. It’s wearing me out. I will do my best…but I told myself, maybe three or four years of my life.”
“I wanted to walk every single mountain in China, and I still haven’t done it. I can’t do it if I’m too old, and I’m already 65. I still have to reserve some of my energy (for myself).”
“You deserve to do it,” Josie said. She planned to find a community to continue her protesting once back in the UK.
My final question was for the benefit of the reader: did they have any words they wanted to share for others?
P was the first to answer. “No matter what stage of life (you) are in, there is always something you can do to stand against the power. Sometimes you may say ‘oh, I’m just a small potato, what can I do?’ Just pay attention to any little action you make that can have an effect. Every action we take…is like a butterfly effect.”
She believed that everyone has the power inside themselves to make change, as long as they are alive. I agreed that a corpse would find it difficult to do any sort of social justice work. P builds on her point to say that every single action, even how we die, represents our personal power.
Josie commented that many people may want to know that it’s hopeless. “They actually want to know they’re powerless…they want the convenience of knowing (they don’t need to) bear responsibility.”
“We are not powerless. Power is with the people, we’ve just been (too) repressed to see that.”
“It is never too late to stand up against Zionism, or to make a change,” Josie finished with.
The police were becoming impatient with us, and P and Josie were ready to go, so I thanked them for their time, and after a final encouragement, we went our separate ways.
The road to settling Palestine’s suffering, and the global mechanisms that allow it, is still long and twisted. The idea that the pair would stop protesting because they would be worn out, rather than a solution being found, speaks to the cynicism of the situation. Yet still they make their case, despite the threats and abuse, despite the apathy, in favour of the few who care to listen. We would all do well to listen when injustices are highlighted so we can afford complicity. Only actions, big or small, change the world, and we all have the power to act.
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