A martial arts peer has a friend in Hong Kong who is a protester. He said he wants to burn China and Hong Kong to the ground. He has shared videos with my peer. My martial arts peer showed the class. The violence is sickening. It has nothing to do with democracy. It is simply senseless violence that damages lives permanently. My peer has tried to talk sense into his friend who seems to have lost his mind. The Hong Kong protests will not be successful with people like my peers friend at large. They are angry young men trying to inflict violence born of hatred for everything. China needs to crack down and impose rule of law. These protests will change Hong Kong forever. They will probably never get the chance to breed these violent protests again. For those in the West who think this is a dash for freedom don’t understand that Hong Kong has always been free and autonomous. Why risk autonomy for a violent confrontation fueled by nothing more than hatred?