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A magnificent night in Hong Kong, where the Chief Executive held a two hour "listening event" after 17 weeks of mass protest, over 1200 arrests, and many incidents of police violence. She now appears to be trapped in the venue by a crowd who would like for her to keep listening.
So last night after tweeting this I went out to see the siege of Carrie Lam with my own eyes. It was spectacular. I will try to convey some of the beauty in this thread
The event took place in this building, called Queen Elizabeth Stadium even though it's just a normal building from the outside. There are no underground passages out of it, only doors. Carrie Lam spoke until about 9:30, while a nonviolent crowd and lots of press waited outside 
By the time I got there about 11:45, the crowd had really dwindled, and consisted mainly of journalists staking out the parking garage.
Lam was still inside, unwilling to come out and face the sleepy crowd of dozens of people. A line of riot cops protected the entrance to the parking garage, while inside the building was a bunch of blueshirt police. 3,000 cops (10% of the force) had been mobilized for this event
Towards 1 AM, the police inside grew sleepy, and began to snooze. They have a big weekend of indiscriminate violence ahead and need their energy. But on this night that was supposed to be over by 10 PM, the adorable scamps had tuckered themselves out
Here was the situation at 1:30 AM. Carrie Lam is still inside. A phalanx of press is filming the parking garage. The police are peacefully asleep. There are perhaps twenty protesters left. At this point someone plaintively yells (in English) "Carrie Lam, come out!" She won't.
At this point even the merry uncle who had been drinking all night outside the stadium gave up and slalomed away. The press (in full riot gear) continued their siege of the parking garage. When protesters began to chant, I could only hear six voices.
The police, having rested, finally put on riot shields and busted out a side door into the alleyway, forming an action phalanx. They shone bright lights at the three journalists who tried to film them.
A mysterious rune was spotted outside the building. Science may never leaarn what process causes these random, nonsensical patterns to appear on Hong Kong buildings. Perhaps good material for a @nytdavidbrooks column on the limits of reason, and the need for a return to faith
@nytdavidbrooks Finally, Carrie Lam made her run. Her entourage and police faked out the press by driving her motorcade just to the edge of the garage. At the same time, she was ducking out the back door. The Chief Executive made it safely through the half dozen people waiting outside
@nytdavidbrooks I returned home towards 2 AM for self care. I hope the Chief Executive takes it easy today after this close brush with the mean streets of Hong Kong.
