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26 / Periscope

Fears underneath the black “Even if I get arrested, they (police) can’t find any-
s the anti-extradition bill (anti-ELAB) move- thing from it,” he says.
ment continues, a sea of black floods streets A first aider helping the injured in the movement,
Ain different parts of Hong Kong nearly every who requested to be identified only as a student of the
weekend. Hundreds of people wearing black risk their CUHK, worries that the police might spy on him. He
lives every week for the same purpose—to stand up says that as a first aider, he does not fear showing his
against what they see as creeping interference of Bei- face, but many on his team use fake names and hide
jing. their identities from each other.
Hong Kong, the former British colony which is “It’s not a matter of privacy. We don’t want to be
guaranteed a high degree of autonomy from Beijing arrested by the police, because what we are doing is
until 2047, saw a public backlash against the now with- breaking the law. If the police don’t arrest us, I don’t
drawn law that would have allowed people to be extra- think we have to hide our identities,” he says.
dited to China for trials, throughout the summer. Protesters enable alphabetical and biometric lock-
“Everyone is separating their lives of protesting and ing systems on their smartphones and disable the
normal life,” a front-line protester who prefers to be functioning of whatever surveillance systems they
identified as a recent graduate from the Chinese Uni- deem could expose their identities. Some change their
versity of Hong Kong (CUHK) says. clothes, use fake names on social media and put up um-
In a bid to protect his own privacy, he wears “Black brellas during protests to block police’s cameras from
Bloc”, a widely used terminology referring to a black capturing their images.
outfit - black T-shirt, black sanitary mask, black cloth – The underlying fear is that revealing their identities
commonly worn by anti-government protesters. at public demonstrations can result in atrocious conse-
Wearing black is not the only measure he takes to quences – getting arrested and charged by the police.
protect his identity and prevent himself from being ar- Protesters’ concerns over their identities and per-
rested. He also uses a different cell phone with a differ- sonal information are also reflected in their reaction to
ent contact book and SIM card that allows him to stay the smart lamppost project, which was being tested by
off the grid. the Hong Kong government as a part of the smart city

Protesters wear “Black Bloc” to protect their identities and prevent themselves from being arrested.