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Photos: Hong Kong’s summer of protest in graffiti

Hong Kong is a vertical city. Narrow roads twist past densely packed high-rise buildings. In this concrete jungle, protesters play hide-and-seek with the police, spray-painting their woes and demands on the city's once-clean walls, concrete barriers, overpasses, and major roads and tram tracks during the wee hours. They are part of a protest movement now in its fourth month, sparked by a now-shelved China extradition bill.

Updated on: Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM IST

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1/10

A man holding an umbrella walks by a bus stop advertisement filled with protest art posters. All summer, young people in Hong Kong have been buying dozens of cans of spray paint with their pocket money and taking to the streets, turning their hometown into a canvas of anti-government graffiti. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

A man holding an umbrella walks by a bus stop advertisement filled with protest art posters. All summer, young people in Hong Kong have been buying dozens of cans of spray paint with their pocket money and taking to the streets, turning their hometown into a canvas of anti-government graffiti. (Vincent Yu / AP)

2/10

An electric box has been painted over to hide anti-government graffiti against the sunset in Hong Kong. Wearing tinted sunglasses, a mask and a helmet, a scrawny teenager hastily sprayed “Sell Hong Kong” at New Town Plaza in Shatin before darting away with a group of protesters upon the arrival of police. Like most, he is a novice when it comes to the art of graffiti. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

An electric box has been painted over to hide anti-government graffiti against the sunset in Hong Kong. Wearing tinted sunglasses, a mask and a helmet, a scrawny teenager hastily sprayed “Sell Hong Kong” at New Town Plaza in Shatin before darting away with a group of protesters upon the arrival of police. Like most, he is a novice when it comes to the art of graffiti. (Vincent Yu / AP)

3/10

Black sheets cover anti-government graffiti on the government-funded mural in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Eyes of children on the mural are blackened - reflecting a past eye injury sustained by a protester. “I am a student but (for) these few months, or weeks, I paint more,” said Hel, who asked to be identified only by his middle name out of fear of arrest. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

Black sheets cover anti-government graffiti on the government-funded mural in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Eyes of children on the mural are blackened - reflecting a past eye injury sustained by a protester. “I am a student but (for) these few months, or weeks, I paint more,” said Hel, who asked to be identified only by his middle name out of fear of arrest. (Vincent Yu / AP)

4/10

Two workers clean up after protesters had scribbled multiple anti-government graffiti on a wall. The eye on the mural is painted red. Hel said protesters “never draw on some private properties” and the aim of graffiti is not to destroy but to “express our demands and what we are fighting for.” (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

Two workers clean up after protesters had scribbled multiple anti-government graffiti on a wall. The eye on the mural is painted red. Hel said protesters “never draw on some private properties” and the aim of graffiti is not to destroy but to “express our demands and what we are fighting for.” (Vincent Yu / AP)

5/10

A man walks by the road block with anti-government graffiti. The most common graffiti is "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times." Other messages include the popular chant "Five Demands and Not One Less," expressing demands for greater democracy, and the trending hashtag “Chinazi,” a portmanteau of China and Nazi. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

A man walks by the road block with anti-government graffiti. The most common graffiti is "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times." Other messages include the popular chant "Five Demands and Not One Less," expressing demands for greater democracy, and the trending hashtag “Chinazi,” a portmanteau of China and Nazi. (Vincent Yu / AP)

6/10

A cleaner attempts to remove an anti-government graffiti by using a high-pressure water gun. Hong Kong, a glitzy financial centre, was never a favourable place for graffiti, and cleaners have been working around the clock to erase the remnants of weekly battles. Workers hastily remove graffiti by painting them over, washing them off, and if all else fails, taping them over. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

A cleaner attempts to remove an anti-government graffiti by using a high-pressure water gun. Hong Kong, a glitzy financial centre, was never a favourable place for graffiti, and cleaners have been working around the clock to erase the remnants of weekly battles. Workers hastily remove graffiti by painting them over, washing them off, and if all else fails, taping them over. (Vincent Yu / AP)

7/10

An overpass in Causeway Bay is filled with torn scraps of anti-government posters in Hong Kong. Overpasses are filled with sticky notes and prints of protest art have been scraped with little avail, leaving torn paper scraps everywhere. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

An overpass in Causeway Bay is filled with torn scraps of anti-government posters in Hong Kong. Overpasses are filled with sticky notes and prints of protest art have been scraped with little avail, leaving torn paper scraps everywhere. (Vincent Yu / AP)

8/10

A man walks down a pedestrian stairway outside the government headquarters filled with anti-government graffiti written in English and Chinese, one line in Chinese reads " it is you who teach me peace is useless." (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

A man walks down a pedestrian stairway outside the government headquarters filled with anti-government graffiti written in English and Chinese, one line in Chinese reads " it is you who teach me peace is useless." (Vincent Yu / AP)

9/10

Burn marks from homemade gasoline bombs and burned rubbish scar the streets and plastic road barriers. An ominous quote "If we burn, you'll burn with us" from the movie "Hunger Games: Mockingjay" is scribbled in front of plastic barriers which were burned after protesters threw Molotov cocktail in front of the government headquarters. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

Burn marks from homemade gasoline bombs and burned rubbish scar the streets and plastic road barriers. An ominous quote "If we burn, you'll burn with us" from the movie "Hunger Games: Mockingjay" is scribbled in front of plastic barriers which were burned after protesters threw Molotov cocktail in front of the government headquarters. (Vincent Yu / AP)

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A man walks past a red anti-government graffiti reads in Chinese "Release righteous" outside a subway station in Hong Kong. It will be difficult to meticulously clean up the streets of Hong Kong, as is being done in Beijing, before China’s upcoming National Day celebration on Tuesday. (Vincent Yu / AP)

Updated on Sep 30, 2019 10:51 AM

A man walks past a red anti-government graffiti reads in Chinese "Release righteous" outside a subway station in Hong Kong. It will be difficult to meticulously clean up the streets of Hong Kong, as is being done in Beijing, before China’s upcoming National Day celebration on Tuesday. (Vincent Yu / AP)

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