1. I have 5 ‘Liberate Hong Kong’ flags, 3 ‘Hong Kong Independence’ flags, 2 ‘British colonial Hong Kong’ flags but no courageous flag bearers from the HongKonger community.

‘Fei Long Liu’ (Romanised) is not a HongKonger. He has never been to Hong Kong barred from flight transits. However, he staged a solitary demonstration for Hong Kong at Amsterdam’s Dam Square after he was granted refugee status in the Netherlands. He has also been fundraising for Bonham Tree Aid.

“HongKongers living in Europe are a bit too timid! I have never been subject to any threats as a demonstration organiser. Yet, HongKongers are too afraid to even attend one.” he said. The trauma of living under the Chinese Communist Party and its Hong Kong agents’ ‘Big Brother is Watching You’ surveillance system seems to linger with diasporic HongKongers. Despite immigrating abroad with their entire families, many are still too afraid to take a stand. In May 2024, when allies of other ethnic groups gathered in Paris to protest against Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to France, Fei Long Liu met three HongKongers in said protests. He noticed that they were covered from head-to-toe to shroud their identities. To Fei Long Liu, this seemed unnecessary. He has been openly participating and organising various demonstrations in the Netherlands. This did not result in any threats or harassing messages for him.

“I stood at Dam Square for HongKongers for two summers and two autumns. Yet, I have not seen this mentioned in a single HongKonger media outlet or on social media. This surprised me.” Fei Long Liu stood up for Hong Kong at Dam Square for two summers and two autumns since June 2022. No HongKongers were in attendance. No media outlets seemed to have covered this. There were, however, ‘little pinks’ who gave him the middle finger and branded him a traitor to his country. This did not stop him from persevering for two years. He held rallies and invited friends from other ethnic origins to display the Hong Kong flag with him. His driving force, apart from his tenacity to his belief, is those who expressed support.

“I saw tourists from Hong Kong breaking down in tears when I played Glory to Hong Kong. It made me feel a little awkward.” For HongKongers living under the omnipotent National Security Law, they might not be able to stay on the frontlines like Fei Long Liu and other ethnic groups. However, Fei Long Liu has come across many whose hearts are still burning for their cause. This includes: a young woman tourist who shed tears when Glory to Hong Kong was playing; an older woman from Hong Kong who gave Fei Long Liu a heavily folded, tiny crumpled paper that turned out to be €50. There were Hong Kongers who bought him water and other beverages as a gesture of support when he was protesting in the summer.

“I realised a lot of people are very supportive of the fight for Hong Kong so I wanted to find a way for them to make an actual difference to our HongKonger comrades.” Apart from HongKongers, Fei Long Liu has also met many foreigners who told him that they once lived in Hong Kong or witnessed the social movement in Hong Kong in 2019. This prompted Fei Long Liu to start displaying Bonham Tree Aid’s donation QR Code so that the diasporic Hong Kongers and their foreign allies can support HongKonger comrades more practically. With Bonham Tree Aid’s approval, Fei Long Liu now installs a cash donation box for fundraising. He chose Bonham Tree Aid because it is an organisation that supports HongKonger political prisoners and their families. He believes that is the most direct way to help his HongKonger comrades. Seeing people donating or scanning the donation QR Code convinces Fei Long Liu that his fight is not for nothing. Apart from monetary support, the donations also send a message to those behind bars that there are people in different corners of the world still rooting for them and keeping the fight alive.

Nowadays, Fei Long Liu can only manage to organise a few rallies a year and attend other diasporic groups in resistance’s activities in the little spare time he has between making a living in the Netherlands as a refugee and completing his refugee civic integration programme. His civic integration programme is set to complete in 2026. He hopes he will be able to find time to demonstrate at Dam Square again then. “Having said that, many of our comrades will have ‘graduated’ (released after serving their sentences) by then. Also, it is a long time from now. Would we have enough donations in the time in between?” (To be continued…)

This piece is edited and illustrated by @WL.AandD

* Bonham Tree Aid distributes £380 a month to imprisoned protesters’ families in need for sustenance to alleviate their difficulty in meeting the costs of living. Founded in October 2021, Bonham Tree Aid has helped 300 families to date and is currently supporting 112 families. There are 112 families on its waiting list, awaiting emergency assistance.

Donate now to lift a comrade from crisis!