Witness History2 Sep 2024

I led the 'Umbrella' protests

On the 26 September 2014 Nathan Law stood on a makeshift stage outside Hong Kong's central government complex and chanted ‘Democracy Now’ and ‘Freedom’ into a microphone.

He was leading hundreds of protesters who had gathered to demand that China grants Hong Kong free and fair elections.

As the day went on the protest continued to grow and it wasn’t long before Nathan’s face was all over the news.

Then at 2am his microphone was cut off and the protest plunged into darkness as plain-clothed police officers rushed to the stage and arrested him.

Nathan tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty how despite his arrest the protests continued to grow into some of the largest Hong Kong had ever seen lasting 79 days in total.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Picture: Umbrella Protests. Credit: Getty Images)

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