Jump to content

Strife in Hong Kong


Coss
 Share

Recommended Posts

Latest rumour is the banning of face masks in public. Of course this won't apply to the police and HKers routinely wear surgical masks in public. I'm surprised at the patience of the Chinese. They value world opinion highly. At some point they wont give a f*ck. But until then they will try and quell the protests through subterfuge, etc. Personally threaten organizers, infiltrate, or do what American cops do in inner city protests and infiltrate with undercover cops who will throw a bottle through a window and create a publicly accepted reason to physically stop protests. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This analysis was written by the American journalist who was "detained" by hours today for the commie cops. It's long, but informative. I'll post some paragraphs for those who don't want to read the whole thing.

From Asia’s Finest to Hong Kong’s Most Hated

The city’s police force was once widely respected for its restraint and trusted by the local population. No more.

...

Carrie Lam, has spent months pushing for legislation that would allow the city to hand over criminal suspects to other jurisdictions, including to mainland China, where the legal system sways to the Communist Party’s beat. Yet because Lam has denied the public any say in the bill’s language, and hid when residents’ anger blew, it is the police who serve as the government’s voice, the front line of defense.

Hong Kongers go to the streets to vote. Residents have no right to choose their chief executive, and so blocking a road and amassing a crowd is the clearest way to register displeasure. Since record-breaking crowds began marching against the extradition bill in early June, Lam suspended the proposal yet did not withdraw it completely, and left it to the police to step into the void. Officers have handled crowds in ways both brutish and violent, with tactics that critics say have tipped toward vindictiveness. Riot officers have pummeled and dragged bystanders, and fired tear gas and projectiles on opposition lawmakers, first-aid workers, and journalists, at times turning residential neighborhoods into smoke-filled war zones. On some occasions, they were not merely defenders, but perpetrators, as well.

...

Given the regularity of protests here, local police became expert in crowd management. Rioting in the 1950s and 1960s convinced officials they needed to maintain order by acting with restraint, marginalizing agitators with propaganda, and seeking tips from the public. The police adopted a somewhat tolerant approach to crowds, according to the work of Lawrence Ho, a sociology professor at Education University of Hong Kong who focused his doctoral dissertation on riot policing. The idea was that restraint would encourage peaceful rallies. Surround and contain the protests was the ethos, not suppress them.

The police then adapted and refined their strategies further. Anti-riot teams were ordered to keep heavy arms inconspicuous, to not provoke protesters, and to not take forceful actions against the crowd. They would deploy only if the situation spiraled out of their control. Tactical units were drilled in different degrees of escalation. Police approached protesters in soft hats and with bare hands as commanders talked with the crowd and tried to defuse tensions.

...

The difference, Tsang, the professor, said, was that Hong Kong police now receive training from mainland Chinese agencies. During the 2014 Umbrella movement, participants and journalists witnessed troubling episodes. In a separate strike hub, thugs arrived and punched random protesters before the attackers were led away and freed by police. In a park one night in October, riot police hit protesters with batons as plainclothes officers pummeled and kicked the activist Ken Tsang, leaving his face unrecognizable. The seven officers were convicted of his assault, but incredibly, Tsang, too, was found guilty of assaulting police and resisting arrest, and served a brief prison term.

...

It’s rare now to see officers in their regular blue uniforms. They are dressed for a riot hours before young people converge on the streets. Police flags, alerting people that force will be used, were once raised repeatedly and for lengthy stretches, yet today it’s possible to never hear a warning or see a flag before tear-gas shells sail overhead. Tear gas itself is no longer a dispersal tool, but a weapon. The United Nations human-rights office has accused the Hong Kong police of defying international standards and creating “a considerable risk of death or serious injury”; the agency joined international calls for Hong Kong to set up an independent investigation into the anti-government protests.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/09/hong-kong-police-lost-trust/597205/

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...