As Setember 2014 comes to a close, protesters have massed in some of Hong Kong’s busiest areas and refused to budge despite police firing multiple rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The immediate impetus for the demonstrations is new measures proposed by China’s authorities that would limit who Hong Kongers can elect in 2017 elections. But the political earthquake shaking the former British colony is centered on a far deeper fault line: the struggle for freedom and democracy in China and the ability for Beijing’s authoritarian rulers to cope with the aspirations of 7 million Hong Kongers.
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