Cabrini staff member witness to Hong Kong protests
Robert Iodice, a Cabrini engineer, traveled to Hong Kong where he is an acting engineer on a project. During his time in Hong Kong, Chinese students held a non-violent protest marches and vigils that began on Friday, Sept. 26 and then escalated on Sunday, Sept. 28.
The citizens of Hong Kong are protesting to keep their promised democratic rights and according to Vox News, “What’s going on in Hong Kong right now is a very big deal, and for reasons that go way beyond just this weekend’s protests.”
Iodice explained in an email interview that what is going on is significant because the quickest way for the central government in China to lose all control of the situation is to hurt the children of the establishment. Iodice also said that during a day off he traveled to the marches where the young adults were and what he saw completely shocked him.
“Suppose you and your classmates from Cabrini, and your counterparts from Villanova, Eastern, Bryn Mawr and Haverford all went to downtown Philadelphia to peacefully march in some demonstration,” Iodice said. “How do you think your parents would react if the police tear gassed you? How about if they shot rubber bullets at you? Or brought out the ‘storm troopers’ with riot gear including big plastic shields to push you off the street?”
In Hong Kong, marches are very common. That’s why when they began, everything seemed normal. However, everything started escalating on Friday when members of the protest group, Occupy Central (Central is the name of Hong Kong’s downtown district) had planned to launch a campaign on “civil disobedience” on Oct. 1. However, with the marches already going on, Occupy Central began their campaign early and on Friday, the protesters peacefully occupied the forecourt of Hong Kong’s city government headquarters along with other downtown areas.
“The students are taking it all in stride,” Iodice said. “They are determined to make this a non-violent, peaceful challenge to the Chinese central government’s authority.”
