Finn Lau

Finn Lau (Chinese: 劉祖廸) is a political activist from Hong Kong famous for formulating the protesting strategy Lam Chau and founding the organization Stand with Hong Kong. He was previously only known as the LIHKG user with the username “I want Lam Chau“. On 5 October 2020, he publicized his real identity as Finn Lau and announced that he would leave his original group Stand with Hong Kong to found another organization named “Hong Kong Liberty”. The two organizations are currently operating separately.

Finn Lau
Other namesI want Lam Chau (Chinese: 我要攬炒)
OccupationPolitical Activist (Former: Surveyor)
Known forFormulating the doctrine Lam Chau

Early life

Finn Lau was originally a surveyor who claimed to have no political background or association with any political parties at all, and said that he was “only a Hong Konger who loves Hong Kong”. [1]

Formulating the strategy Lam Chau

During the early stage of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, he suggested the strategy Lam Chau as the user “I want Lam Chau” on the forum LIHKG and gained attention for it. He called for the citizens to request foreign governments to cancel the passports of Hong Kong government officials, pro-China personnel, and their families. [2] He reasoned that as many of the Hong Kong government officials and pro-China legislators were holding foreign passports, they would be able to disregard the long term effects their policies may have on Hong Kong, thus canceling their passports would force them to reconsider the potential harm in legislating the anti-extradition bill. [3] The concept of Lam Chau since then went popular among protestors,[4] with many citing the line in The Hunger Games “If we burn, you burn with us” to rally for the concept. The line later became a popular slogan in the movement, often appearing on different Lennon Walls.[3][5]

Founding and leading Stand with Hong Kong

After gaining widespread support on the forum LIHKG, Finn found the organization Stand with Hong Kong and recruited its members on Telegram, aiming to implement the doctrine of Lam Chau. The team later launched a series of campaigns throughout the anti-extradition movement, seeking to rally the international community to support the protest in Hong Kong. [3] Some of the team’s more prominent campaigns including the global rally across 15 countries in August 2019, advertisements on the headlines of popular newspapers such as the Guardian or the Spectator,[6] and the sanction report in November 2019 that proposed a name list of human right abusers to be sanctioned by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.[7]

Being arrested and leaving Hong Kong

On 1 January 2020, Finn was arrested in the 2020 New Year’s Day March but was released after being detained for 48 hours, as the police did not know at that time that he was the leader of Stand with Hong Kong but thought he was a common protestor. After being released, Finn decided to leave for the UK and continue his operation there. [1]

On 5 October 2020, Finn publicized his real identity in a video, as he was only previously known by his online alias “I want Lam Chau”. He also announced that he will leave the Stand with Hong Kong team to found the new team Hong Kong Liberty and that the two organizations will operate separately. He stated that his future work to liberate Hong Kong will revolve around four axes, as listed below [8]

  1. To act as an intermediary between activist groups, frontline support workers in Hong Kong, foreign government, and overseas lawmakers
  2. To perfect the doctrine of Lam Chau and lobby the international community against the CCP
  3. To push for Hong Kong’s autonomy under international jurisdiction like the UN, G7, or D10. And to push the British government to open up the disputes on the Sino-British Joint Declaration at the International Court of Justice.
  4. To join forces with international allies to push for the right of national self-determination as a basic human right, starting with formally engaging with the UNPO.

References
  1. 立場新聞 (2020-10-05). "「攬炒巴」劉祖廸拍片現真身　透露曾於元旦遊行被捕　冀成地下抗爭組織及外國政府溝通橋樑" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  2. "「攬炒」一詞源於撲克牌遊戲　Ben Sir教路泛民迎戰建制炮轟". 香港01 (in Chinese). 2020-05-07. Archived from the original on 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  3. "【連登動員．上】專訪「我要攬炒」真身：香港人未放棄，我們也不放棄". 立場新聞 (in Chinese). 2019-07-18. Archived from the original on 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  4. "【逃犯條例】延綿半年的街頭衝突　追溯十大新興「關鍵詞」源由". 香港01 (in Chinese). 2019-12-09. Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  5. "彈弓、防毒面具對抗警察 反送中出現港版飢餓遊戲女神" (in Chinese). 新頭殼. 2019-08-06. Archived from the original on 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  6. "連登「我要攬炒」發起　今起英報登廣告　控訴中國違反聯合聲明　冀英港「同行作戰」". 立場新聞 (in Chinese). 2019-07-24. Archived from the original on 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  7. "攬炒巴、學界代表團製建議制裁名單　林鄭、李家超、何君堯等逾百人上榜". 立場新聞 (in Chinese). 2019-12-21. Archived from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  8. "無懼通緝現真身　攬炒巴：相搏到底". 蘋果日報 (in Chinese). 2020-10-05.
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