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‘Freedom comes with a price,’ says Canadian first aider arrested at PolyU siege

蘋果日報 2020/12/06 00:01


Born and raised in Canada, Logan used to know Hong Kong only as a visiting tourist when he accompanied his parents on trips to their hometown.
It was not until the Umbrella Movement in 2014, when he saw the city’s main thoroughfare occupied for 79 days, that he first found a connection with Hong Kong. “I began to feel proud that my parents are from Hong Kong and identify myself as a Hongkonger.”
Like many other protesters, the hope he felt then was short-lived after the movement fell through and its leaders placed behind bars. Like many others, Logan thought, watching from afar, that it was the end of Hong Kong.
His hope for the city rekindled when protests against the extradition bill amendments erupted last year. “I was surprised that so many people showed up,” says Logan, who closely followed the events through news reports and footage on social media. Upon seeing the livestream on Aug. 31 last year, where riot officers stormed the train and indiscriminately assaulted passengers with batons and pepper spray, he decided to fly back to Hong Kong and join the resistance as a volunteer paramedic.
The last protest Logan participated in was the siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which he considers to be the most traumatizing and helpless experience. Cries for help never ceased and he witnessed a protester who was burnt accidentally tore off his skin while trying to remove his sleeve. Without sufficient first-aid supplies or equipment, Logan could only disinfect and bandage his injury. “It felt like I was in a war. I knew I couldn’t help him, so I could only try to calm him down.”
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With casualties all over the campus, he soon left the severely burned protester and rushed to assist others. Logan returned after two hours, only to find that he was gone. The guilt of leaving a wounded fellow behind has stayed with him till now. “The most painful thing is you have to choose whom to help, who you have the ability to help and who you don’t,” says the 20-year-old.
As the siege dragged on, the atmosphere on campus got more tense and emotions became more repressed. “Half of the people still looked calm, but you could see the panic in their eyes,” he recalls.
With police announcing that all who remained on campus would be charged for rioting, Logan followed a group to sneak out. “There was no time for you to think,” he says. Unfortunately, the route was exposed, and he was arrested.
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Logan eventually found his way back to Canada after he was bailed. He knows it would be difficult for him to return to the land where he once fought hard to defend, but he has no regret. “Being a Hongkonger is an important part of my identity, I don’t think anything can make me regret living up to this identity,” he says.
If anything, the experience in Hong Kong reminds him to treasure the freedom he has. “I was raised in Canada where everyone has a lot of freedom to do what they like. It is difficult to understand that freedom comes with a price.”
As the pro-democracy movement seems to have lost its momentum, Logan appeals to fellow protesters to stop pointing fingers and blaming each other. “I have the same struggle as many of those who are abroad. We wish we could have done more while we were in Hong Kong,” he continues. “We should strive to do better ourselves, instead of imposing our expectations on others.” As for himself, to compensate for his absence in Hong Kong, he keeps on fighting in Canada by joining the lobbying efforts.
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