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‘An eye for an eye’: How one woman’s eye patch became the symbol of the Hong Kong protests

The pro-democracy demonstrators have been calling for change in Hong Kong since June

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August 14, 2019 at 11:08 a.m. EDT

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Katie Mettler.

The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have a new rallying symbol, and it was born from a video of a young woman, her face badly bloodied.

A projectile had hit her right eye, fueling speculation about who fired it and what the escalating violence meant for the people of Hong Kong, who for two months have been protesting what they see as the Chinese government’s excessive influence over their semiautonomous territory.

A woman was shot in the eye on Aug. 11 during ongoing protests in Hong Kong that were triggered by now-suspended plans to allow extraditions to mainland China. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post, Photo: Graphic: Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)

The demonstrators alleged the projectile, perhaps a beanbag, was fired by police. Authorities said at a news conference that there was no proof to back up that claim.

“Eye for an eye,” some protesters shouted as they continued their sit-in at the Hong Kong International Airport this week, forcing the cancellation of all flights Monday and Tuesday.

Demonstrators also sprayed-painted “eye for an eye” throughout the airport in Chinese and in English and covered their faces with mock eye patches made of gauze. Some colored them red, to signify blood.

Hong Kong riot police, armed with pepper spray and batons, clash with protesters at airport

Officials’ response

On Monday, authorities said the video of the incident involving the woman would have to be verified and that they could not confirm “the reasoning behind this lady’s injury.”

The unidentified woman was treated by medics and taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she underwent surgery, reported the Straits Times. The South China Morning Post quoted a doctor as saying her injury was “really serious.”

Eventually, the eye-patch protests moved to the hospital, too.

A briefer on the protests

For two months, the pro-democracy demonstrators have been calling for change in Hong Kong, which has existed as a semiautonomous part of China since the British handed it over in 1997.

The protests began in June, initially over a bill that would allow Hong Kongers to be extradited to China, which raised fears that the freedoms enjoyed by the residents of the territory would be further diluted. The protests have since expanded to include demands related to Hong Kong’s election process, calls for investigations into police use of force during the demonstrations and a push for all charges to be dropped against the protesters.

But China has issued ominous warnings to the demonstrators and called the protests “terrorism.”

Apart from the incident involving the woman with the bloodied face, other violence captured on video and in photos this week included video footage of a police officer using his knee to push a man’s face into a pool of his own blood.

“Sorry,” the pinned protester can be heard saying. “Don’t do this, I beg you.”