The lyrics have sensitivities in China, where the song is censored.
Throughout the month of June, millions of protesters have been marching in Hong Kong in effort to withdraw an extradition bill that would send inmates to China.
As the millions took to the streets with signs and their vocal cords, they belted out “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from “Les Miserables.”
The famous Broadway musical is a worldwide phenomenon, and in mainland China, the lyrics are censored on streaming services. However, in Hong Kong, which operates as an independent state within the communist country, the songs and the play can be accessed on streaming services.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam is under fire in the protests for proposing the bill. She is being asked to withdraw it and apologize.
On Wednesday, Lam said that the bill had been abandoned; however, it has not been officially withdrawn yet.
“We are concerned, we feel the youth have been cornered by the government,” Ho Chi Kwan, an academic, told The Guardian. “What they are demanding is what all the people of Hong Kong demand.”
Fresh protests are expected to hit central Hong Kong Friday, according to reports.
Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule from the British in 1997; however, it was been governed by a “one country, two system” rule which allows the people of Hong Kong to enjoy freedoms that mainland Chinese citizens cannot such as speech, press and access to the Western world.
Hong Kong also features an independent judicial system, which is unlike that of Communist China.
The marches in Hong Kong come 30 years after the protests in Tiananmen Square, where the Chinese government declared martial law on the people of Beijing as citizens pushed for democracy.
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