The lady in red: As HK protestors block departure gates at airport, a Singaporean woman was determined to go home

On Tuesday (Aug. 13), chaos ensued at the Hong Kong international airport, with throngs of angry protestors blocking the departure gates.

Amidst the pandemonium, an image stood out — a woman in red amidst a sea of black, fighting her way to the departure gates. Who was the lady in red? She is a Singaporean woman determined to go home.

With the extensive media coverage at the Hong Kong international airport, there are many photos and videos of the protests online.

One image stood out, thanks to the stark contrast of the lady in red, holding her red suitcase amidst all the protestors in sombre colours. The pictures detail the determination with which the woman was trying to fight her way to the departure gates.

The Guardian UK picked up the moment of the Singaporean woman who just wanted to go home on video.

Here are some stills from The Guardian’s video:

Watch the Singaporean woman fight her way to the departure gates in this video posted on Twitter:

"#CarrieLam ! Make way! Carrie Lam! Make way!" #AntiELAB protesters at North departure gate chanted as they tried to black passengers' way. pic.twitter.com/uf13ra0TE9

— Xinqi Su (@XinqiSu) August 13, 2019

Here are some stills from the Twitter video:

In a Facebook post written in Mandarin, a colleague of the lady in red explained what the Singaporean woman had to go through at the Hong Kong international airport.

The post was taken down, but another media site. provided a summary and a transcription of what is happening in the video.

The colleague wrote that when the woman arrived at the airport at 2pm; she was shocked to see how chaotic the situation was. She figured that she had two choices—to stay and get stuck or to get on the plane.

The colleague said in the post that the choice was “exacerbated” by her family asking her if she was safe.

He also said that while the Singaporean lady felt emotional, it wasn’t just out of frustration for the situation she personally found herself in—she felt moved and distressed by what was happening to Hong Kong, a place she had always found to be “gentle, full of charm, polite and respectful”.

The colleague mentioned in his post that the lady in red harboured no bad feelings towards the city, she just wanted to get home to Singapore.

The terrified lady didn’t dare speak Chinese while around the protesters, her colleague said.

Her colleague’s post said that she was angry at all the people protesting, but in a later post, the colleague noted that this was his own assessment of her feelings.

When she made it past the protestors, journalists tried to interview the Singaporean woman, but she did not grant them an interview, insisting that she just wanted to go home.

The latest on the lady in red is that she made it back safely home. /TISG