Elderly Hong Kong protester nails bottle flip & disperses police

A great moment in the history of democracy.

Jason Fan | Andrew Koay | September 11, 2019, 07:16 PM

Stories about the ongoing protests in Hong Kong have mostly been about the magnitude of violence.

Not this one.

In fact, this might just be one of the more wholesome moments the protests have seen as of late.

A video featuring an elderly man and his plastic water bottle seemingly dispersed a police blockade.

The incident caught on camera was posted on the Undergrad H.K.U.S.U. Instant News Facebook page has since gone viral with over 370,000 views and 4,000 shares.

Flipping a bottle, dispersing the police

The video showed an elderly protester seated on the ground attempting to execute a good ol' bottle flip.

He's watched and encouraged enthusiastically by other protesters.

Riot police can also be seen standing in front of Tung Chung MTR station.

Seated next to the bottle flipper is another younger protester who jokingly teases the elderly man as he tries to flip the bottle.

"Faster, I want to go home."

The elder protester replied in a similar jest: "But don't you want to stay here?"

Soon after, its mission accomplished as the elderly man completed the trick on his fourth on-camera attempt.

This sent the crowd into rapture and the man got off the ground and proceeded to walk towards the police.

He can be seen conversing with them before the police marched off, clearing the scene.

The bottle flipping idol is then thronged by jubilant protesters.

A coincidence?

Commenters online also hailed the man's heroics.

"Actually, everyone can be at peace, there is no need to oppose one another!"


"Turns out that laughter can repel violence!"

According to Reuters, police had closed the MTR station last Saturday Sep. 7 after protesters swarmed it in a "stress test" of road and rail links.

In all likelihood, it was probably just a nice coincidence.

But hey, take nothing away from the man -- bottle flipping is hard.

Top image from Undergrad H.K.U.S.U. Instant News Facebook page