This sounds very much like Hong Kong, where I live, in the summer and autumn of 2019, but in fact describes Northern Ireland 50 years ago. As the crisis in Hong Kong shows no sign of resolution, the strife increasingly resembles the Troubles I covered as a journalist in the 1970s and 1980s. In Hong Kong, the original demand for the withdrawal of the extradition bill was grudgingly met in early September. Hong Kong has thankfully not yet reached the stage of car bombs and assassinations. It is not unreasonable to worry that the uncompromising approach of the Beijing and Hong Kong governments, exemplified by the increasingly tough behaviour of the Hong Kong police, is pushing some of the youthful protesters here in that direction.

Source: The Irish Times November 19, 2019 15:53 UTC