♪♪♪ [ Tense music plays ] ♪♪♪ [ Footsteps echoing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -I heard that someone had put a bounty on me.

♪♪♪ I don't think I'm completely safe.

So, for me, I try to lay low in order to avoid any identification.

♪♪♪ -Are you ever worried that they might kidnap you?

-[ Breathes deeply ] Yeah.

At the end of the day, you still don't know whether all these precautions that you have can prevent you from harm, but at least you have to try.

-Nathan Law, slate one, take one.

-My mother always said that, "Don't mess up with the Chinese Communist Party.

You cannot win over them."

But I was just too stubborn to be stopped.

[ Dramatic music ] ♪♪♪ - Is that what you want, from Hong Kong, people like this?

♪♪♪ -You are in an undisclosed location.

You are too afraid to tell us where you are.

-It's not only about my personal safety, but also concerns over the others.

♪♪♪ -This isn't just a Hong Kong crisis.

This is the biggest popular challenge to China's President Xi since he came to power seven years ago.

-We are ready to bear any consequences, including putting us in jail.

♪♪♪ [ Cameras shutters clicking ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ I don't think I'm a very special person.

I'm just an average man being situated in a very special time.

When I was, like, really young, 7 years old, I played football.

I was really a tiny guy.

I grew up really late, so I was not the best player, but when I was playing football, I kind of, like, escaped all the things that I've been through.

That was a comfort for me.

I grew up in a family that argue all the time.

Police were called, and things turned quite messy, and it was just, like, intense fighting.

But I think it kind of make me more tough.

I was born in China, and I moved to Hong Kong when I was 6 years old.

My family wanted me to have a better life.

My father was a construction worker, and my mother was a cleaner.

My parents had a refugee mentality.

Go to college, get a good job, make a good living, keep your head down, and don't rock the boat.

But when I get into university, it was a time that massive changes was happening in Hong Kong, and you had a call.

You wanted to be part of the history.

[ Students chanting in Cantonese ] -Thousands of students have abandoned classes this week.

Many seem prepared to sacrifice their studies in the battle to secure the right to choose their own leader.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd cheering and applauding ] -I had been the MC for those five days of class boycotts.

My mother thought I was out for part-time job or having fun with friends when I was on the street, and she didn't know that I was involved so deeply.

It was like living a double life, but I couldn't stop.

I had to continue what I'm doing because the Chinese government promised Hong Kong people would enjoy democracy, autonomy, and freedom, but these promises have not been kept.

-The Chinese government said that Hong Kong would eventually have the right to elect its own leader, but every time they tried, the decision or any sort of reform just kept getting kicked down the road.

But then, these young kids organizing these street protests came on to the stage and now wanted a seat at the grown-ups table.

[ Speaking in Cantonese ] [ Applause ] -I became aware of Joshua well before I met him.

I was a rookie, and he was already the face of protest.

-Two years ago, Joshua Wong rallied 100,000 people to challenge the government's plan to introduce a more pro-Beijing curriculum in Hong Kong public schools.

That movement forced the government to withdraw the proposal.

Today, Wong has emerged as a leader of this youth movement.

-I'm Joshua Wong, and actually I've involved in social movements since I'm 14 or 15 years old.

Hong Kong is the place that I'm born, I live, and the place that I love.

-Joshua Wong came out of, really out of nowhere, out of school, and, with a few friends, soon was attracting crowds of up to a hundred thousand people.

He showed Hong Kongers that if they stood up and if enough of them came out in the streets, that they could have an impact.

[ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd cheering ] [ Agnes speaking in Cantonese ] -Agnes Chow was a student protester who was basically always by Joshua Wong's side.

- My name is Agnes, and I live in Hong Kong.

-Wow.

What's that?

-I don't really think that I am the "princess," but, yeah, I'm just a normal girl.

I don't really know how these kinds of names come from.

[ Students speaking in Cantonese ] -When I first met Joshua and Agnes, I was a freshman in university.

Agnes and Joshua were still high school students.

I was not very good at, like, making new friends.

I was not very outgoing.

But I found an identity as an activist.

I found something that could define myself.

-If Joshua was the face of the movement, then Nathan was the brains behind the movement.

-We realized it was really important for Hong Kong people to elect its own leader.

-The Hong Kong chief executive is, in a sense, the Governor of Hong Kong.

Beijing not only selects the candidates, votes on the candidates, but Beijing also, at the end, appoints those who are elected.

Beijing's candidate always wins.

[ Tense music plays ] -On the 26th of September, 2014, lots of Hong Kong citizens came to support us.

-We have never expected that much people coming out, so that made us more excited and more empowered.

We just thought that we need an escalation in order to make a point.

But breaking the law in order to achieve justice was a new concept for Hong Kong people, and I was quite hesitant whether I should be involved or not.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd cheering ] [ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Nathan shouting in Cantonese ] -We decided to reclaim the Civic Square, a place that was supposed to be open for public protest, but now barricaded.

[ chanting in Cantonese ] [ Tense music plays ] [ Crowds shouting ] I personally announced that Joshua was arrested, and then suddenly the mic go mute.

Plainclothed undercover police rushed to the stage and put my hands behind my back.

[ People shouting ] -I couldn't do anything to rescue them and I feel really desperate that I don't know what to do.

-They basically wanted to scare people into shutting up and not protesting anymore.

-When I was brought to the police station, like, for me it was really hard to accept.

I bumped into Joshua in one of the detention rooms.

He was just so tired and exhausted.

I saw his fragility.

That really bond us together.

It's a connection of brotherhood.

[ Gentle music plays ] The next day, I was released, and I stepped out of the police station.

[ Crowds chanting ] There were thousands of people coming out to the streets.

That was the moment I felt like it was going to become something really, really big.

-There were tens of thousands of people surrounding the government complex, and the police, they do this thing where they raise these flags to warn you to back down.

And then I remember they raised a flag I'd never seen before and thinking like, "What does that mean?"

[ Tear gas grenade exploding ] ♪♪♪ -People were screaming.

We didn't know where to go.

[ Grenade explodes ] It was a very chaotic and terrifying moment for Hong Kong people, because it meant something new to us.

[ Explosion ] -I was really shocked, and I can't believe that I can see such a kind of scene in Hong Kong.

but I chose to stay.

I chose to step up.

-To see the police react so violently to kids really outraged a lot of the Hong Kong public.

Protests started erupting all over Hong Kong.

[ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] Hong Kong was paralyzed.

-The media began calling it Umbrella Movement because protesters, they used umbrella to resist the pepper spray from the police officers.

-Their current leader, Chief Executive CY Leung, spoke just a short time ago to say that Beijing will not back down.

-The government in Beijing won't meet the protesters' demands for democracy, while the demonstrators, for their part, remain just as committed.

-Occupy was a remarkable uprising.

Its goal was to force the government to the negotiating table.

"We're gonna shut this place down until you come and have a good faith negotiation with us."

-We camped in the most busy highway in Hong Kong, living there for lots of days and nights.

Living on the streets, you have to endure the rains and the heat, and it is really difficult for us to, like, to have enough sleep and enough rest because it is really hard falling asleep on the concrete road.

-But I never think of giving up because I believe that what I was doing.

It's valuable and right.

[ Rhythmic music ] -I really felt a sense of utopia in the protest zone.

There were so many people taking supplies, like food, to the protest site.

And there were university students coming to teach secondary school students.

It was one of the most beautiful scenes that I've ever seen.

-The students showed that they can work together and create something beautiful.

♪♪♪ -Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Agnes Chow, were very much sort of the young face, the young leaders of the Umbrella Movement.

They really were critical in sort of galvanizing younger people in Hong Kong, [ Applause ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] -Student organizers say they will keep boycotting classes until the government responds to their requests.

-I'm really proud of the Hong Kong people.

We show the world that we are very rational and we are very peaceful protesters, and the contrast between the government and the protester is really obvious.

-A lot of young Hong Kongers saw, for the first time, what it meant to have a cause that was bigger than them to rally behind, and what it meant to fight for something and what young people can really achieve in the name of this place that we all love.

-Finally, we show the power of social movement and show the power of people to the government.

[ Sighs ] Mm, troublesome?

-Tonight, they're threatening to occupy government buildings.

Is this movement now too big to fail?

-The Occupy Central protests have already caused a lot of disruption to the daily life of Hong Kong people, and significant loss to businesses.

I realize that the basis for a constructive dialogue between us and the students has been seriously undermined.

I truly regret that we will not be able to have a meeting tomorrow which will produce any constructive outcome.

These unlawful activities must end as soon as possible.

I urge protesters to retreat from the occupied sites immediately.

-I think it's becoming more dangerous and dangerous because the price that we have to pay become more heavier than before, and it is totally different than before.

Yeah.

-There's been a fear that the example of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong could spill across the border.

The last thing China's leaders want to see is for Hong Kong to be a kind of launching pad for a democratic revolution in China.

[ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ -I resigned from the post of being a spokesperson because of some political pressure from, well, China.

So I have no choice at that time.

-Mm, kind of.

Well, yeah.

-Can I don't say that?

-Huh?

-Can I choose not saying that?

-Okay.

-It was a tremendous amount of pressure to her to do it.

She wanted to protect people, not only herself but people around her.

I think we just have to understand that.

-When Agnes stepped down, I just worry my family will be threatened next.

I just remind myself, no matter what things happen, I could not step down because we need to give faith to the Hong Kong people.

-We have a date.

The Hong Kong city government will launch formal dialogue with pro-democracy student leaders on this Friday.

-We express the wish to the students that we'd like to start a dialogue to discuss universal suffrage as soon as we can.

-I know that the debate will be broadcasted in front of millions of people, and I was really nervous 'cause I didn't want to let people down.

I felt like this was the chance that I have to change the future.

-The anticipation for this debate was extraordinary.

They say the revolution won't be televised, but in this case, it was.

The whole city was glued to the television set that night.

[ Carrie speaking in Cantonese ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd applauding ] -After the negotiation with the government, I went to the protest site.

Everyone greet you.

They kind of like congratulated you.

They felt happy for you.

They felt like you carry some kind of hope from them and you were the path forward.

That was overwhelming, of course, because I've never felt those things before.

I haven't been really thinking myself as someone who could stand out and have the ability to change the society.

-We have taken this opportunity to exchange views with the student representatives of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

As far as their position is concerned, I'm afraid that we can only agree to disagree because our firm position... -At the end of the day, it became a show for the government.

They never had any intention to make any concession.

-The occupation started out so strong, but the truth was there was no way that they could sustain that.

People were getting tired, people were getting tired of the roads being blocked.

Eventually, there was a court injunction to clear the occupation at the 79-day mark, and they did.

And so it fizzled out, and the government cleared the camp and cleaned the streets and it was like nothing had ever happened.

[ Tense music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -After the Umbrella Movement ended, Joshua and I were charged with inciting and participating in unlawful assemblies.

I was very nervous because no one knew what would happen.

My mother was so worried and talks about, like, "Get your graduation certificate and find a good job," things like that.

For me, it was really hard to accept that, like, all the efforts in 79 days will be cleared out just by those cranes.

And I also took responsibility for the failure of the movement and for why it ended up not as people would have expected.

-It is hard for me to accept the fact that the occupy is end, but only message that we hope to let the world to know that we still have not surrender and give up yet.

-In the end, there were just a lot of mixed emotions, but I think Occupy, even though it was a failure, forced people to pay attention.

It was a sort of political awakening for Hong Kongers.

-Hong Kong had been a British colony for 156 years, and that lease expired in 1997.

And the whole of Hong Kong was handed back to China.

-Most Hong Kongers, or their parents, had fled communist China.

They knew how miserable the Chinese political system could be, how it could just grind people up.

I mean, you had tens of millions of people dying of famine, and people in Hong Kong understandably worried that what had happened in Beijing in 1989 could happen in Hong Kong after 1997.

-For weeks, it has been the story that has moved the world.

The citizens of China, led by the young, calling for democracy and change.

-In the spring of 1989, students assembled in Tiananmen Square until, you know, hundreds of thousands of people were camped out in the center of the Chinese capital.

-We all knew it couldn't go on forever, but no one thought it would come to this.

A brutal massacre of Chinese students and other protesters by the Chinese army.

Thousands may be dead.

-After what had happened in Tiananmen Square, Hong Kongers were especially afraid of the Chinese Communist Party.

[ Rhythmic music plays ] ♪♪♪ -Now Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong.

That is the promise and that is the unshakeable destiny.

What that was meant to suggest was that I think it was very important that the people of Hong Kong should know what was being done in their name and should be involved in the process of determining their future.

[ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -When we were waiting our trial, Joshua invited me to a cafe in Mong Kok to have dinner, to talk about having a new political party and kind of, like, harness the youth power of the Umbrella Movement.

-After the end of Umbrella Movement, we realized that we need to continue to move forward and also let the world to know that we are not only activists, we are also well prepared to be politicians.

And that's the reason for Nathan, Agnes, and I found the political party Demosisto.

[ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ People shouting in Cantonese ] -We decided to run in the Legislative Council election.

The Legislative Council is the legislature of Hong Kong.

It makes law for Hong Kong people, just like the congressmen in the U.S., and half of the seats were publicly elected.

We just wanted to change the government from inside the system.

-People thought it was a joke.

Here are these kids, you know, who've just finished this Occupy Central movement and now they want to run for the Legislative Council.

I mean, it was a bit preposterous.

-No, because we are 19 still, but in Hong Kong's case, we need to have 21 to join the elections, but we are 19.

-We were discussing who run for the election.

I'm a few years older than them, so I became the choice.

[ Photographer speaking in Cantonese ] [ Assistant speaking in Cantonese ] [ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Agnes speaking in Cantonese ] [ Group chanting in Cantonese ] [ Applauding ] -Hello, everyone.

Demosisto is officially established on this day, and I will run for the Hong Kong Island election.

[ Applause ] -It's been a busy week for 23-year-old Nathan Law.

As well as his university studies, he's taken on another challenge.

Running for election in Hong Kong's Legislative Council.

-Well, at the beginning of my campaign for my Legislative Council election, it was really tough.

I was just a university student, I didn't even graduate.

I can feel that those voters were quite skeptical.

Hello?

[ Speaking in Cantonese ] So after a few months of really intense campaigning, the first poll came out.

I ranked like 11 in 15 candidates.

So our team were quite desperate.

[ Speaking in Cantonese ] -I was extremely worried about the outcome, but, of course, we can't hold a crystal ball to predict the future.

We were definitely the most hardworking team in the whole election.

So we started a day from going out on a morning station in a street corner, or in a bus station at around 7:00, and then we work ourselves through the day with sometimes an afternoon station or night station, then midnight station, and we coming back to the office at like 2:00 a.m. And then we woke up at 6:00, and we started the routine again.

Eventually, my supporting rate started to climb.

[ Chanting in Cantonese ] [ Interviewer speaking in Cantonese ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] -In the middle of my election campaign, Joshua and I faced the first verdict of our trial in regards to the Umbrella Movement.

We were very nervous because if I were sentenced to more than three months imprisonment, then I would lose my candidacy automatically.

-The fact that Joshua and Nathan had to go to trial in the middle of an election campaign would be a pretty big speed bump for anyone, and it was clear that the government was using the legal system in a more overtly political way.

So nobody knew how it was going to go.

[ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Camera shutters clicking ] [ Cameras shutters clicking ] [ Gentle music plays ] -A lot of people breathed a sigh of relief.

There was still rule of law.

It felt like a victory for Hong Kong.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Supporter speaking in Cantonese ] -Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] On the election day, it was the big day for us, because that was the last chance for us to get people to vote.

So I woke up very early, and then I spent whole time touring Hong Kong Island to try to give it a push.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] [ Host speaking in Cantonese ] [ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Agnes speaking in Cantonese ] -A record 60% voter turnout rate, the highest since the territory's handover in 1997, and now all of Hong Kong is holding their breath awaiting the final result.

[ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Announcer speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] [ Announcer speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd cheering ] -I became the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong history at the age of 23.

I was quite surprised how emotional Joshua was, but actually I shouldn't be surprised about it because he was the most hardworking guy on the team.

He felt happy for me, I felt happy for him.

That bonding became much deeper and we felt like all the hard work paid off.

-We thought that the Legislative Council was going to be changed.

You know, it will be a institution that could really represent the people of Hong Kong.

-There is this sense of hope that Hong Kongers might actually be able to make a difference this time.

-It shows how Hong Kong people wanted to change and people are voting for a new way and new future of our democratic movement.

Every legislator in Hong Kong, when they resume office, they have to take the oath.

Adding quotes before or after the whole length of oath has been a council tradition for quite a while.

On the day of the oath, I chose to quote from Gandhi, "You can chain me, you can torture me.

You can even destroy this body.

But you will never imprison my mind."

After I took the oath, I went back home.

My mom cooked a full table of my favorite food for me.

She didn't say much, but I knew that she was very proud.

The transition from a protest leader, an activist, to a legislator, was difficult.

I need to get a new wardrobe for me to wear in the chamber.

The average age of my staffers were actually lower than I, so we were a really young office.

I made a rule that they're not allowed to call me a boss, because I don't want that hierarchy in the office.

Agnes was a policy assistant that helped me on housing, on land development, and basically monitor those subcommittees.

And Joshua was the community organizer.

He helped me to organize community work in southern Hong Kong Island.

-He did not really care about clothing before, I think, but after the new job, he entered H&M for his first time.

-I loved the work that I was doing.

I loved being capable of changing things.

And I promised myself I have to be someone who those voted for me would be proud of, so that I can really repay to the people who give their trust to me.

I got to talk about policies all the time, to represent people and to make sure that the fringe group of the society is being listened to.

We were really making a difference, and then the floor fell out from under me.

[ Official speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] -Four pro-democracy legislators were disqualified from the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

Why?

Because of the way they delivered their oaths last year.

-They came up with this law about the oath.

It had to be exactly as written.

The government decided to disqualify me for using my Gandhi quote.

Using a law to retroactively disqualify a legislator had never been done before.

-I think it showed to Hong Kongers that even when they worked within the system, it wouldn't amount to anything 'cause the government would try to stop them.

[ Joshua speaking in Cantonese ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to Nathan ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ [ Supporters cheering ] Yeah!

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Gentle music plays ] [ Assistant speaking in Cantonese ] -When we were moving out from our office, we felt very heavy because it meant that the responsibility as a legislator is over.

♪♪♪ I feel, like, really sad, but I just wanted to be tough because I got a bunch of staff.

-We pack up our things, we pack up documents, our computers, et cetera.

I remember I cried a bit because I was thinking that I will have no chance to go back to this office again.

-Oh.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] ♪♪♪ [ Tongue clicking ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -When Nathan was disqualified, we were discussing how will be the destiny of Demosisto and how should we continue our contribution to the democracy movement?

And three weeks later, both of us were sent to prison.

-Jail time for leaders of Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement.

Joshua Wong and Nathan Law will serve sentences ranging from six to eight months.

In 2014, Wong and Law were given community service sentences for their participation in occupying Hong Kong's legislative headquarters.

But the Hong Kong government felt the sentencing was too lenient and appealed the court's decision.

-The government was going out of their way to stop these two leaders.

It was a moment of despair for the movement, because what more could they do?

It felt like they had tried everything.

-It was, you know, a clear case of double jeopardy.

But the point was the government decided to proceed anyway.

[ Gentle music plays ] [ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] -No one can mentally prepare for being thrown to jail.

We try to be prepared, but when we face that reality, you also get panic.

You also think a lot of things.

Like you didn't know whether there are people who wanted to harm you.

If Beijing wants to hurt me, that were the best place.

So I just spent some time with family, with loved ones, with my cats, and just try to peacefully, like, reconcile that in my mind.

[ Nathan speaking in Cantonese ] [ Crowd chanting in Cantonese ] -All of my friends I met in the Umbrella Movement showed up to say goodbye.

[ Camera shutters clicking ] [ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] -I was sent to the jail for young prisoners.

I need to march inside the room to meet with the senior officers and to say that, "Good morning, sir.

I am Wong Chi-fung, prison number YP4030."

-When I first got to the jail, we needed to take off our clothes, and prison guards came in and searched all parts of our body in order to make sure that we didn't hide anything.

One of the guards told me that he voted for me in 2016, and he told me that I should not belong in this place.

[ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Carrie speaking in Cantonese ] -The mood in Hong Kong was pretty deflated and there was a lot of sort of hopelessness.

Carrie Lam is a long-term civil servant, but ultimately she is, like all very good civil servants, a bureaucrat.

She's very good at sort of executing.

She's not very good at listening, and this is exactly what Beijing wanted.

-Let me make it very clear that extradition of fugitive offenders is part and parcel of the justice system, is part and parcel of... -Carrie Lam was elected the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and initiated an extradition bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent back to mainland courts, to mainland prisons.

-It sort of came back to that really sort of visceral fear of, "If this legislation happens, I could be extradited to mainland China.

I could literally be moved back into a regime that either I or my family escaped from."

So, you know, so it was something which I think a lot of people sort of felt very personally.

-Whenever Beijing press the button and say that, "Carrie Lam, you have to extradite that person," we know that it is impossible for Carrie Lam to say no.

For me, Agnes, and Joshua, it felt very personal.

I had to do something.

This is so big.

-The Hong Kong people basically said, "If we don't fight now, if we don't stop this extradition bill, it's game over for Hong Kong."

This kicked off the biggest political crisis in modern Chinese history.

-Organizers claim that 1 million people plus took part in today's march.

-At stake, say the demonstrators, is nothing less than Hong Kong's status as an island of rights and freedoms in a one-party state.

-I was in Causeway Bay, which was where the rally started.

People were everywhere, and people were so angry because the anti-extradition bill was going to be voted in that week.

-You saw over a million people come out onto the streets, patiently line up, there wasn't any looting, there wasn't any violence.

-It was a rallying of the Hong Kong public that I don't think Hong Kong had seen before, even during the Umbrella Movement.

And it was a very, very clear message that the Hong Kong people did not want this extradition law.

[ Crowds chanting in Cantonese ] [ Guns booming ] -The crackdown on 12th of June was unprecedented.

I was standing in the middle of the crowd, and we heard shots.

By then, we didn't know whether it was, like, real firearms or rubber bullets.

We were just trying to avoid being hit.

[ Gun booming ] -The police are acting with impunity.

I mean, there's no accountability at all.

-I witness a lot of police brutality.

I try to liaise with them, I try to calm the situation because I'm always at the front lines with several other legislators.

But, of course, it was futile.

And people were so angry.

-Is that what you want, from Hong Kong people, like this?

-That turned political neutral people into the side of the protesters.

-Hong Kong suspending the controversial extradition bill that sparked mass protest this week.

-After repeated internal deliberations over the last two days, I now announce that the government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise.

-When Carrie Lam decided to postpone the bill indefinitely, it was just too late.

People's demands were much more than asking to shelve the bill.

They were asking investigation on police brutality.

They were asking not to name those protesters as rioters.

They were asking for democracy.

So there's a point of no return.

-If we had thought the million person march was unprecedented, the 2 million person march was just unbelievable.

-Well, I was speechless.

Just trying to imagine if that amount of numbers of people marching down in London or in Paris.

Joshua was released in the middle of the protest.

-My friends wait for me outside the prison, and Nathan helped me to set up the press conference.

What we try to do is just, through civil disobedience and direct action, and let the whole world, let the international communities to realize that Hong Kong people will not keep silence.

-On 1st of July there was also massive rallies, hundreds of thousands of people marching down to the street, and the destination was the Legislative Council.

I could definitely sense the air was different, and I thought that something serious is gonna happen.

[ Banging ] -In international news, protesters are surrounding Hong Kong's legislature this hour.

-Protesters came out and encircled the Legislative Council and began to break into the legislature.

-Protesters have laid siege to the Hong Kong legislature.

-The Umbrella Movement was a movement created by hope, but the movement against the extradition law is a movement created by desperation.

-The storming of LegCo was a real watershed moment.

The people of Hong Kong said, "Enough is enough."

-This isn't just a Hong Kong crisis.

This is the biggest popular challenge to China's President Xi since he came to power seven years ago.

-A new generation of protesters came who thought that the old peaceful protesting tactics weren't enough.

[ Explosion booming ] It was a younger, more militant group of people on the street.

-So you had people who supported Joshua and Nathan.

Then you had people who took a more radical, extreme line, who came out, who were basically saying, "This really is our last stand."

-I was still a teenager in 2014 when Hong Kongers marched for the right to vote for their own leaders.

I was moved by their determination to do this peacefully, but things have just gotten way worse.

[ Protester speaking in Cantonese ] [ Protester speaking in Cantonese ] -My parents know that I'm a front-line protester.

They tried their best to stop me from going to the front line, but they know that I will do it anyway.

I have the minimal gear on myself.

Just whatever you have on hand.

It's just like the stone age.

[ Protester speaking in Cantonese ] [ Helicopter blades whirring ] [ Guns booming ] -I am a peaceful practitioner, but I think those who are on the street throwing bricks, throwing petrol bombs, they're also our people.

I might be old to them, in terms of how I feel and how I think, but I'm still with them.

[ Tense music plays ] ♪♪♪ -The police began cracking down more and more brutally on the protests every week, and brought out more and more hard-core crowd-control weapons, and the protests just reached levels of violence that Hong Kong had never seen before.

[ Batons thumping, people shouting ] -I think the truth really hurts the government, and as more and more coverage of police brutality was broadcast to the world.

-And then all of a sudden, these riot police charged.

-They start targeting journalists.

[ Guns booming ] -You shoot the press!

You shoot the journalists!

You shoot the journalists.

It's still Hong Kong, not China.

Not yet.

-The government is trying to scare away people with violence and brute force.

-Watching all this unfold, Beijing is not amused.

A spokesman for China's Hong Kong and Macau office warned the protests have, in his words, "Begun to show signs of terrorism."

-The government seized on the destruction of property and some other incidents to try to paint the protesters as out of control, violent, radicals, even terrorists.

There was a real battle to control the narrative, not only in Hong Kong, but globally.

-Nathan Law, welcome back to our program.

-Hello.

-Well, so tell me, where is this going?

-The government kept saying that it was terrorists who initiated the protests.

I realized that there's a need to speak on behalf of Hong Kong and to explain what is really happening in Hong Kong.

The people of Hong Kong, they're, like, putting their lives at risk and facing rubber bullets and all the police brutality.

Autonomy, democracy, and rule of law has always been our core values.

If you care about democracy, if you care about freedom and human rights, you should join hands with us.

-Nathan and others were very effective in making sure that the rest of the world saw what was happening in Hong Kong, and they were very effective in pointing out that the silent majority wasn't so silent.

-Activists like Nathan Law were spending a lot of time with media, trying to portray the reality of demonstrators who simply were asking for what they had been promised.

And it worked.

-Now to Hong Kong, where voters turned out in droves yesterday to deliver a victory for the pro-democracy movement.

The district elections are being called a rebuke of Beijing's policies.

-The government had this narrative that there was, again, this silent majority that actually only wanted peace and stability and did not support the protesters.

But in November, when the district council elections happened, the democratic candidates won by an unprecedented landslide.

-The turnout was massive.

It was much more than any other election that we had in Hong Kong's history.

-That really scared not just the Hong Kong government but the Beijing government.

-The results are a stunning rebuke for Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader, Carrie Lam.

She had labeled protesters enemies of the people, but now the people have contradicted her emphatically.

-Any thoughtful government would use elections of this sort as a circuit breaker to say, "Okay, enough.

The people have spoken.

Let's stop the violence, let's have some negotiations, let's talk."

I think the lesson Beijing took from those elections was, "We've lost Hong Kong.

We better try something else."

-In just the past few minutes, China's national parliament has approved a controversial national security law for Hong Kong.

-Permanent and non-permanent residents of Hong Kong can now be imprisoned for up to life for crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.

-The Hong Kong SAR government will vigorously implement this law, and I forewarn those radicals not to attempt to violate this law, or crossing the red line, because the consequences of breaking this law are very serious.

-Overnight, the stakes became way too high to risk expressing anything that could be construed as being against the government.

It essentially would give the government the power to charge anyone they wanted.

-People immediately deleted all the politically sensitive posts on their Facebook.

Some of them even deleted the accounts because they were worried about prosecution.

-It's frightening because, you know, the law is so open and it applies globally.

Simply sitting here, talking to you in the U.K. about Hong Kong, I could be breaking that law.

-My parents worry about my personal safety.

Every night when I sleep, I'm not sure will police storm into my home and arrest me suddenly.

-I heard that someone had put a bounty on me.

So, for me, I try to lay low in order to avoid any identification.

You still don't know whether all these precautions that you have can prevent you from harm, but at least you have to try.

[ Gentle music plays ] Yeah, when you think of the next decade of your life, you could possibly be in prison.

That's quite a daunting idea.

And sometimes you think, like, "Oh, you should go."

Sometimes you think, "Oh, you shouldn't."

But at the end of the day, there is only very limited room for you to prepare and to make a decision.

When the crackdown is so severe, there's no perfect choice.

-Arrest and detentions began as soon as the new national security law came into effect.

-Police have arrested 28 people in a 24-hour blitz.

Among those arrested was activist Joshua Wong.

The 22-year-old was the face of the 2014 Umbrella Movement.

Fellow activist, Agnes Chow, was also taken into custody.

Police say both were wanted for involvement in an unlawful assembly back in June.

[ Tense music plays ] [ Camera shutters clicking ] -I think Agnes is going to go to prison.

I think Joshua's going to China in ongoing detention.

They will find a way to keep him there and to keep him under control.

-The national security law has been interpreted in a way that has been a death knell for Hong Kong.

It's really been the end of any sort of freedom.

-The national security law destroyed Hong Kong.

I think it put in place all the instruments of a police state.

It put Hong Kong in handcuffs.

-When I was about to leave Hong Kong, I disguised myself, trying not to be recognized by anyone, because there were undercover police patrolling everywhere.

I could clearly hear my heart beating because I was so nervous.

But I managed to take a flight out of Hong Kong.

When I was about to leave Hong Kong, I cannot say a proper goodbye to my family.

I couldn't tell them, like, I'm literally leaving, because if they knew that I was leaving, it could be an excuse for the government to say that they were assisting me.

And I think that is the correct choice to make, even though it comes with great pain.

-When news broke that Nathan Law had left Hong Kong, at the time, it seemed perhaps extreme for him to flee so quickly like that.

But in retrospect, he's now the only major protest figure who's not in jail.

He can actually still say something about what's happening in Hong Kong.

-When I wake up in the morning, I go on internet to see the latest news about whether there is any friends getting arrested or new development in Hong Kong's politics.

Most of the time, there will be a lot of interviews.

Press around the world are still very interested in Hong Kong.

I am now free to talk because I left, because I seek refuge elsewhere.

-Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Nathan Law arrived in the U.K. last month.

-He has been leading the opposition to a new national security law imposed by China.

-And at the end of the day, I'll be writing articles to keep my communication to Hong Kong's audience and trying to explain what's happening around the world to them.

Because, in Hong Kong, news may not be able to deliver that perspective to them due to all the censorship now.

The lesson we can draw from Hong Kong's experience is that when an unchecked power is in place and determined to take away people's freedom, it can be done so quickly.

[ Voices shouting in Cantonese ] I've not spoken to Agnes because I also know that the communication between two of us could possibly endanger her.

But I knew from friends that she has been trying to lay low.

She just have to play very safe.

I felt like I'm a older brother of Joshua and Agnes, trying to take care of them.

I'm worried about them.

There is always a survival guilt when I think about my friends in Hong Kong.

There have been a lots of nights that I just scroll over Joshua's Facebook.

We all miss him.

There was a list China published, and my name was on it.

I'm one of the most wanted individuals under the national security law.

I don't think even in London I'm completely safe, because there is always danger that the Chinese Communist Party could hurt you even though you're not on their soil.

But we are not giving up.

We will continue no matter what.

We will find a way to do it.

-In the wake of the national security law, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have voted with their feet.

Sometimes they're young student activists, sometimes they're parents with young children, have simply left.

-For the time being, Hong Kong is in for a tough time.

But I don't believe that you can lock up the ideas which are at the core of what Hong Kong has represented.

-My role as a representative of Hong Kong community has changed.

The British government is estimating that there will be more than 320,000 Hong Kong people coming.

We can provide more support, provide community to make sure that these people coming don't feel alone and isolated.

[ Crowd applauding ] Today, when I'm delivering this speech beside the Big Ben and the Parliament, it feels unreal, because I used to do it in Hong Kong.

Many of you have these signs of missing home, that you feel like, yes, you are here, but somehow you don't belong here.

I dreamed about Hong Kong.

I dreamed about the neighborhood that I grew up.

I dream about friends.

And we are here to say that we are not giving up.

We all have the same pursuit is that we are going to come home.

[ Crowd applauding ] I never regret to be part of this massive movement and to stand on behalf of Hong Kong people and with them in order to fight for what we deserve.

For me, my duty is to get people moving, to empower them, to get them to do the things that will change the future.

Democracy is a project.

We have to work on it endlessly.

Hong Kong will become free in my lifetime.

Maybe it takes decades, but it will happen.

We just have to keep going.

[ Agnes speaking in Cantonese ] [ Gentle music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Camera shutters clicking ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪