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AbstractPolitical demands are a relevant factor in protest participation. However, most studies examined demands as a tactical tool, and it remains unclear how the endorsement of collective demands may contribute to creating the mobilization potential. This analysis examines how collective demands facilitate links of collective identity, efficacy, and grievances with sympathy for normative and non‐normative protest actions in the context of Hong Kong's anti‐extradition law amendment bill social movement. The results show that collective demands are directly and indirectly related to sympathy for protest action and moderate the role of political dissatisfaction in forming the mobilization potential. The analysis also reveals distinct associations of sympathy for normative versus non‐normative protest action with facilitating factors. These results are discussed with respect to their theoretical and practical relevance in forming the mobilization potential and how they may contribute to understanding social movements more generally.

AbstractOlder adults have been statistically proved to be at a higher risk of getting severely infected by the coronavirus COVID-19, evoking sweeping narratives of compassionate ageism surrounding them in different discourses. By analysing the media content, scholars from different areas have alerted us about the amplified ageism aroused by the pandemic crisis. However, we are still short of empirical evidence to learn how ageism is constructed in diverse sociocultural contexts in the wake of this global pandemic crisis. This study provides the case of Hong Kong to reflect on how ageism, as a set of social inequalities, is constructed. By examining 814 articles collected from the three most popular newspapers with different political orientations in Hong Kong, this study uses quantitative and qualitative content analysis to examine how older people have been generally represented. Then it further compares how these representations have been influenced by the media's liberal or conservative preferences. Third, it examines the relationship between the political orientation of newspapers and how different forms of ageism are constructed. The findings indicate that despite the liberal or conservative inclination of the three newspapers, they portray the older population as frail, dependent and deprived not only at the biomedical level but in all aspects of life. This study also reveals that the newspapers with a populist inclination in both camps have shown more hostile attitudes in representing compassionate ageism. In contrast, liberal and conservative-leaning media affirmed the government's dominant role in taking full responsibility for caring for the older population. The findings indicate that the polarised ageism frame cannot fully explain the underpinnings of ageism and implied policy processing in different contexts.