One parallel is fear of PLA martial law, which was palpable pre-handover. Many Hongkongers were afraid tanks would roll in and people would be lined up and shot.

The billionaire oligarchs, incompetent bureaucrats, and blind party apparatchiks running HKSAR are pushing remaining pro-democracy Hong Kong residents to violent extremism. Even diehard blue ribbon Alex Lo, who apparently regrets supporting the current regime given his post-NSL tone change, predicts that "maladjusted elements" will go underground and become more terrifying given HKSAR's exclusive political reliance on draconian crackdowns.

There is a chance that people who want the right to fair elections in Hong Kong will rebel with murderous rage next time they take to the streets, leading to PLA martial law. The Hong Kong police will become nostalgic for the tame so-called "violent protests" of 2019, and the anger of freedom lovers will further complicate the futures of the children of Hong Kong's elite. Casualties among the mainland People's Armed Police who pose as HK police will complicate mainland and HKSAR government messaging on Hong Kong, and perhaps "the tanks will roll in" if the Hong Kong People's Armed Police are not able to control the streets.

If Hong Kong goes down this dark path, the party will pretend this was the plan the entire time, when they just lack the political ability to properly rule the city or convert Hongkongers to their cause. "Stability" as defined in the Little Red Book may be achieved in the short-term, however many fear the HKSE will become a Potemkin Stock Exchange while the seeds of further social instability sprout elsewhere in China. This fear is not dissimilar to that felt by more forward-thinking Chinese on both sides of the border before the handover.

Hong Kong is the city of perpetual heartbreak...