" – a message written before the police takeover occupied areas. 11 December 2014
Umbrella Movement Police arrested a fourteen-year-old girl for drawing flowers on the wall with chalk, threatening her father with removal of custody, and not releasing her back to her family until 20 days later. She quickly became known as "Chalk Girl" (
粉筆少女) when pictures of her drawing circulated on social media. Her lawyer, Patricia Ho, stated that the government response to a chalk drawing was "disproportionate" and that "police are using whatever mechanism they can think of to stop teenagers from participating in any protest."
29 September 2014 The day after the occupation started in Mong Kok, the occupation area expanded from Nathan Road and Argyle Street to Mong Kok Road, Sai Yeung Choi Street and so on. Vehicles were trapped because of the full-occupation of all six roadways in Nathan Road while many bus routes had to be rerouted. Meanwhile, those trapped buses and discontinued bus stops became the place where protestors and citizens stuck their opinions of requesting the stepdown of CY Leung and the slogans to call for universal suffrage, which were written mainly on cardboard and papers instead of post tips, which became the prototype for the Lennon Wall in Admiralty.
1 October 2014 The Lennon Wall in Hong Kong was created by a group of post-80s social workers, Lee Shuk-ching and Chow Chi. They bought post-its and invited people to write down their hopes and reasons for stay after around three days after police had tried to disperse protesters by firing tear gas. The first post was "Why Are We Here?" . After that, they stuck their posts, left their pens and post-its, inviting others to write their wishes. The message board started to expand and eventually colonised the entire wall beside the staircase heading to the Hong Kong Central Government Offices. Following over ten thousand notes being stuck onto the wall, this wall became the focus of media. Since the theme and format were found to be similar to the Lennon Wall in Prague of Czech Republic, the banner of "Lennon Wall Hong Kong" was set on the outside wall of the staircase which turned the wall into one of the landmarks for the occupied area in Admiralty. The banner of Lennon Wall Hong Kong also became the Facebook page created by Lee Shuk-ching and Chow Chi for recording the posts on Lennon Wall later on as well.
18 October 2014 An internet version of Lennon Wall was developed as a historical database to record the Umbrella Movement. Due to the clearance action of police, the originator was apprehensive that those post-its would be obliterated. She decided to create an online Lennon Wall and convert approximate ten thousand post-its into electronic form.
13 December 2014 In the study room of Causeway Bay occupation site, some secondary school students who joined the Central occupation used expanded polystyrene to construct a mini Lennon Wall. As the police had already announced that it would proceed with the eviction of the Causeway Bay occupation area on 15 December, citizens went there and left their heartfelt wishes. It became a scenic spot for taking photos.
20 December 2014 In the stair outside Central Government Offices, citizens tried to rebuild the Lennon Wall. They stuck posters printed with "It is just the beginning", "We will be back" and "Umbrella Movement" on the wall. The staff of Leisure and Cultural Services Development attempted to stop them. Although police noticed their action, police did not take action to interfere.
2019 anti-extradition bill protests . 7 July 2019 . 9 July 2019
Background During the
series of protests against the China-Extradition bill beginning on 9 June, the original Lennon Wall has been once again set up in front of the Hong Kong Central Government Offices staircase. During the months of June and July, Lennon Walls with similar encouraging messages written on post-it notes and regular paper have been put up throughout the entire Hong Kong. This is referred to as "blossoming everywhere" (). Known neighbourhood Lennon Walls include Sheung Shui, Tin Shui Wai, Sha Tin, Fanling, Ma On Shan, Tsing Yi, Tung Chung, Tai Po, Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, Causeway Bay, Sai Wan Ho, Chai Wan, Choi Hung, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Mei Foo, Kowloon Bay, Whampoa, and Tai Kok Tsui, as well as many others on
Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon, and outlying islands. There are even some Lennon Walls located inside government offices, including
RTHK and the
Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office. According to a crowd-sourced map of Hong Kong, there are over 150 Lennon Walls throughout the region. Lennon Walls have also appeared outside of Hong Kong in the cities of:
Toronto,
Vancouver BC, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Melbourne,
Manchester, Sydney, and Taipei. Several Lennon Walls around Hong Kong have been reportedly vandalised within the first few days of being set up. To prevent vandalism, the
Mong Kok Lennon Wall is situated at a private property with warning messages to ward off vandals. On 10 July hundreds of people gathered near the Lennon Wall by the
Yau Tong MTR station in
Kowloon, after word spread that local residents, suspected of being off-duty policemen from the nearby
Yau Mei Court, were threatening pro-democracy youth who were tidying up the wall. Police later arrived, and the conflict persisted for several hours; a handful of arrests were made by the end of the night, including the arrests of two retired police officers for assaulting democracy activists. On the next day, a pro-Beijing middle-aged man was arrested for physically assaulting two victims, one of which refused to defend himself or retaliate, when he attempted to tear the sticky notes from a Lennon Wall near
Kowloon Bay. ==Influence around the world==