This is what happens when the herd has had enough

The Hongkongese people have woken up and are now fully aware that they were being led into a trap by big government.  By piling on one amoral law after another, thus legally giving government the power to treat citizens like slaves, the Hong Kong government went one step too far.  A Chinese extradition law was the straw that broke the camel's back.  People do not revolt like this until they become really afraid and thus really awake.  The Chinese-controlled puppet government of Hong Kong has now completely lost all confidence of the people.  Importantly, the people have lost fear of the government.

This is observable in the willful and overt lack of compliance with the recent "no masks allowed" edict from the corrupt Hong Kong government.  The people have come to the understanding that the laws are now made by the rich for the rich.  Armed with this understanding people have chosen to give both Hong Kong and Chinese governments the 3 finger salute.  Let them say whatever they want; the people have decided to determine their own outcome.

So far, they have gotten away with it.  By that I mean that, so far, legions of Chinese storm troopers have not rolled in with APCs and machine guns to restore "rule of their law", corrupt though it may be.  China cannot allow this to go on forever because they feel that such noncompliance is bad for their image.  This matters A LOT because all governments eventually survive at the whim of the people.  When the people finally lose confidence in the con men strutting around in the halls of power like they were all that and a box of Ramen, those people in power end up losing power.  And worse, when the new leaders are installed one of their first agendas is to extract revenge on behalf of those wronged.  It is an important step not only to show that real change has occurred, but also to send a message to future leaders about what happens when they get too big for their britches.  The current leaders know and respect this possible outcome, if not outright fear it.

China does have one problem, and it's a big one: they cannot just come in and crush the people of Hong Kong without an international flap.  There is no way to come in under cover of night and take out the dissenters.  There are just too many of them to deal with.  And so the would be overlords are left with a very shitty choice: go in there and take care of business using extreme force (and then deal with human rights abuses later) or slowly de-escalate and then come back more quietly in a year and start "Epsteining" those who they consider to be ringleaders.

If they come on too strongly they might open the door for others to step in on behalf of the Hong Kong people.  Trump has already sent out the warning to China: treak HK people fairly.  He didn't say "or else" but it was clearly an implied option.  At the very least they might find the HK people suddenly in possession of weapons of war: guns, bombs, body armor, ammo and the like.  The US excels at illicit gun running, just ask Hillary about what she was doing in Benghazi.

Currently the people of HK are disarmed (a very bad move if you want to retain your freedom!) and so any direct resistance against China will cost blood, and lots of it.  They will literally have to sacrifice their flesh against metal.  Personally I prefer the option where the people never allow themselves to be disarmed in the first place.  Thus, instead of rioting and damaging capital goods, buildings, etc. the people can just show up at the halls of power, armed and ready to kill should the powers that be not hand themselves over to the people.

The police cannot stop this nor can the military.  As soon as the tanks and heavy artillery show up, the people simply walk into the halls of power and kill everyone on the spot.  War over.  And then they put their new leader on the horn and have him tell the police and military that those whose orders they were following are now dead and that they have a new boss, and amnesty comes with the job.

That's it.  Yes, it really is just as simple as that IFF the people self organize and decide to risk their lives rather than living in fear on their knees.  It won't surprise me if someone comes up with an app for this.

To the people of Hong Kong I say this:  You already took the first big step by openly defying government en masse.  Bravo.  But this is far from over and if you want any chance of self determination you are going to have to fight for it. 

Protesting is never going to change the mind of amoral corrupt fucks as those sitting in your halls of power.  It's never going to happen.  If you back down now you lose something that is VERY VERY hard to achieve: momentum.  If you lose momentum now and people lose their passion for personal freedoms then China is just going to be back at your throats in 5, 10 15 years.  After all, your current status was decided by the UK and China without any input from you.  The UK decided you were too far outside their shrinking empire to be able to protect or control and so they essentially sold you back to China.  "One country two systems" runs out in 2047 which sounds like a long time off but which is not.  And as you could see, China was already taking control in several ways well in advance of that deadline.

So if you want freedom, there is no time to waste: start stockpiling the guns and ammo that you really should have had all along.  Fortunately, HK is a rich place.  It's not like some Saharan Shithole that has no money and thus no prospects.   The HK people need to call in some of those billions of dollars that are floating around over there and use them to begin stockpiling arms.  In addition, HK needs to organize a militia right now.  And the first thing on the militia list should be to go from police station to police station with numbers and guns and interview every employee.  Those who are agents of China should be shown the door and told to move out of HK immediately. Those who are loyal to the resistance can stay and will be promised position and status under the new government.  In parallel, the top military should get the same treatment.  Armed men should arrive at their homes in the middle of the night and demand pledge of allegiance or be immediately and physically removed from their homes and pushed over the bridge toward China.

You can't EVER win by protesting.  It will NEVER happen. IF you want change then might makes right.  Go get some guns, go get organized, and then go take back your freedom from those who think they fucking own you like cattle.