Chapter 6 has reviewed the rise of the localist challenge to Tiananmen commemoration in the 2010s. Indeed, since 2015, the localists have constituted a force to be reckoned with in Hong Kong politics. In addition to their prominence in media and public discourses on various issues, Edward Leung of the Hong Kong Indigenous participated in the by-election of the LegCo in February 2016, and obtained more than 66,000 votes (or more than 15% of the votes). Despite losing the election, the results were taken as surprisingly good for a politically radical candidate without election experience and the support of a strong electoral machine. In the LegCo elections in September 2016, in spite of the government's disqualification of Edward Leung and a few other candidates for their professed support for Hong Kong independence, three localist candidates won in the popular election in the geographical constituencies. Some media organizations grouped the localists together with candidates advocating “democratic self-determination” for Hong Kong's future as a faction. This broader faction obtained six seats and about 19% of the total votes.

However, there was no linear growth of political influence and public support for the localists from 2015 to 2018. The Chinese and Hong Kong governments had adopted a hardline approach to suppress political radicalism. In addition to the highly controversial decision to disqualify candidates who advocated Hong Kong independence from the 2016 LegCo election, the government further disqualified two of the three elected localist legislators – both members of the group Youngspiration – due to their political antics during oath-taking.