Freedom has always been illegal

[Citation Needed]

I don't really understand any of this in terms of the real world. Criminals, that go to prison and are then extremely limited in their rights... are free? How do you figure?

Overlords and their minions cannot direct fire at non-targets

I mean... yes they can, and do... all the time, with ease. in China it's happening on a constant basis so I'm not sure where you're getting that idea from...

Decentralised freedom just means the same people can get shot down or imprisoned, with nobody around to open dialogue because everyone has slightly different ideas and thus nobody can speak for everyone, nor compromise. Chaos ensues and the 'overlords' take over, no problem.

So decentralized freedom remains the best option

But this isn't decentralized freedom we're talking about. We're talking about decentralized protests to desperately demand and maintain the status quo of centralized freedom that is HK city. They're not fighting for an Anarchist state, they're fighting against Totalitarian rule.

Remember, this is not a protest which can possibly, ever, lead to the overthrowing of the government like we see around the rest of the world. There is precisely 0% risk for Xi jinping in this case. All they can hope for, in the best, and still an extremely unlikely scenario, is to control and limit the powers of the local government, and the more fuel they give with violence (rumour has it the University is exposed as a weapons factory with almost 10,000 petrol bombs, but we'll see how reliable that is), the more likely the 'overlords' are going to drop their iron fist.

Being 'free' by not obeying is only going to lead you to being very un-free or dead, which I guess is the ultimate freedom