Koo Sze-yiu was a fixture of Hong Kong’s protest scene. Standing out with his close-cropped hair and long gray beard, the gruffy activist and other leaders of the League of Social Democrats nevertheless fit right in marching next to lawyers and tens of thousands, sometimes millions, of ordinary Hong Kongers demanding democracy.
Protesting in Hong Kong had never been easy. Demonstrations often took place at the height of summer, with sweltering heat and packed crowds. In particular, the anniversary of Hong Kong’s July 1,1997 transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule became a recurring day of mass protest. Koo, whose activism began in the 1960s, opposed both British colonial rule and the Chinese Communist Party.
But Koo was present at marches big and small, often carrying a coffin, a signature prop used by the League of Social Democrats meant to shame the Chinese government for its abuses, particularly the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.
For his activism, Koo was convicted more than 13 times and imprisoned on 10 occasions. Still, he continued protesting even after Beijing imposed the draconian National Security Law in 2020, under which dissent is punishable by life imprisonment. He also continued after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2020. As growing repression intimidated most Hong Kongers into silence and forced many into exile, Koo stayed. He protested the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. His last arrest came in December 2023for “attempted sedition” after he planned to protest Hong Kong’s sham elections.
Koo never wavered from his values. At one of his final court appearances, where he represented himself, he said what few dared to anymore: “Human rights transcend political power; the people stand above the state.” Of prison, he said: “Being imprisoned is part of my life—although I fail, I rise to fight again; each term makes me wiser.” Following his cancer diagnosis and reflecting on how he might not live to see democracy in China, he said: “As long as I know when I die that I’ve spent my whole life fighting and going to jail, I’ll have no regrets.”
Koo Sze-yiu often painted political slogans on the coffins he carried. One captured his legacy and that of those who refuse to stop fighting for democracy:
“The people’s heroes, they shall remain forever immortal.”