Hong Kong Protests

I found a very interesting article about the protests in Hong Kong, and instead of criticizing China he took an interesting perspective. The protest are a result from China’s decision to pick the candidates for the next Hong Kong election. Hong Kong is regarded as one if the freest countries in the world, regarding both its civil rights and their free enterprise economic system. China definitely has a history of supporting civil rights and in general has a reputation of being a brutal country with its people. So naturally the protests in Hong Kong has capture the attention of the world, and China has surprised many. The police have not retaliated against the protesters, which many people are starting to take it as a positive sign for the people of China.

            After looking at the protests in China it never occurred to me to compare this protest to the recent ones in America, which is why I believe the article in the Kentucky Kernel brings up an interesting point. The author of this article Matt Young compares the Hong Kong protest to the Ferguson Missouri one. He describes the reaction to the Ferguson protest as,” we saw crackdowns against the protestors’ free speech, and not in any insignificant way. Police in riot gear or worse, military gear reacted to the protests with excessive hostility. Assault rifles, tear gas, dogs and even mine-resistant armored personnel carriers were used.

What do you guys think should we take this as an outlier or should we be extremely concerned?

http://kykernel.com/2014/10/12/u-s-should-value-free-speech/