25th October 2019 – (Hong Kong) At 1pm today, netizen organised a lunch-time flash mob rally at Chater Garden in Central to shout anti-government slogan. Police were on standby since 12.45pm and a large banner was seen placed on the ground. Organiser subsequently cancelled the event at 1.15pm as the turn out was disastrous.
Early this morning, only a few hundred civilians turned up in a ‘Let’s go to work on foot’ movement to shout anti-government slogans in Kwun Tong, TST and Causeway Bay. Last Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters participated in an illegal street rally originally organised by Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) after it was rejected by police. However, CHRF claimed that 350,000 people attended the illegal rally. Not surprised, hundreds of frontline rioters continued with their usual destruction tactics on Sunday i.e. damaging state-linked shops, setting up barricades on roads and hurling petrol bombs at MTR stations exits. Compared to the 2 million protesters who took to the streets during their hey-day in June 2019, the turnout is a far cry from their idealistic total and it’s barely enough to represent even 1% of the 7.44m population in Hong Kong.
It seems like the street rallies are losing steam after John Lee, Secretary for Security formally withdrew the extradition bill at Legislative Council chamber on Wednesday. The lethargy is also caused by frustration of the silent majority who have been deterred from using the public transport as MTR has been ending their daily train services before midnight for more than 2 weeks due to extensive vandalism carried out by rioters on several stations. The public are also shocked by the violence and destruction caused by rioters on business premises, banks as they felt that the initial anti-extradition movement has lost its original purpose. Also, most people have begun to feel the effect of the slow-down in the city’s economy caused by the protesters as they turned more violent.
The early closure of daily MTR train service has been argued by some people as a de-facto curfew implemented by the government. The measure has definitely impacted the pro-democracy movement because most protesters still prefer to use MTR trains to leave after each rally because it is harder for police to catch up with them. Police can stop trams and buses to carry out inspection and it is impossible for protesters to escape once they have boarded a bus or a tram.
The recent goodies bag revealed by Chief Executive in her Policy Address 2019 amongst others, HK$5 billion to increase the number of transitional housing projects, increase on cap of property value from HK$4m to HK$8m for morgage loan of maximum cover of 90% loan-to-value ratio etc have helped to instill some confidence in the local community. Property market seems to be active again as the new incentive has stimulated the interest of new first-time house buyers who previously could not borrow up to 90%.
In addition, it is increasingly evident that many American politicians are voicing their open support for the Hong Kong protesters. The foreign affairs committees at the US Senate and House of Representatives have approved the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The Act directs various departments to assess whether political developments in Hong Kong justify changing Hong Kong’s unique treatment under U.S. law. Also, two more proposed legislation i.e. Protect Hong Kong Act and also a motion to recognise Hong Kong’s bilateral relationship with the U.S, condemning the interference of China in H.K.’s affairs and supporting the Hong Kongers’ right to protest will also be tabled.
On 18th October, 4 U.S Senators and 3 members of Congress who have been actively supporting Hong Kong protesters wrote to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple to express their disappointment after a local app used by protesters in Hong Kong i.e. ‘ HKmap.live‘ was removed from Apple Store. In the letter, Hong Kong protesters were referred to as ‘Hong Kong residents’ and they defended the HKmap app by saying that it allows ‘peaceful’ demonstrators to share locations and helps ‘peaceful ‘protesters to keep out of harm.
It is mind-boggling for most people to wonder as to how these American politicians could ignore the blatant violence inflicted on properties and public amenities. A lot are revolted that the rioters are consistently labelled as ‘peaceful demonstrators’. These American politicians continued to express their significant interest in defending the rights of Hong Kong protesters against tyranny. In denial, pro-democracy supporters even attributed the violence to undercover police officers who were disguised as protesters.
In fact, most Hong Kongers who initially supported the anti-extradition movement have started to cast doubt on the ulterior motive of the civil unrest. Many who were sceptical initially have started to wonder if the small fraction of anti-government protesters are indeed taking orders from the United States.
The target of the blame game has also shifted from Carrie Lam to the police force over the last four months. Anti-government protesters have used several incidents to condemn police brutality and abuse of power. Remember the girl who ruptured her right eye during the 11th August rally in TST? She was allegedly shot with bean bag round by riot police. In September this year, her lawyer has applied for a judicial review and interim injunction to prevent police from extracting information from her medical report. Many have wondered why she has not appeared in public since the incident and they are even doubtful if she has really lost her eyesight permanently. The girl was so adamant to prevent the police from tampering with her medical report instead of appearing in public to expose her real medical condition. To add to the controversy, all her medical bills and legal expenses were footed by the dubious 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund which has been accused of providing selective assistance in high profile cases only. Nevertheless, the propaganda seems to have gained empathy from the international community as the ‘eye for an eye’ campaign has reached out to foreign nations such as Korea and the United States.
At least 40 people were arrested on 31st August during clashes at Prince Edward MTR Station. Despite no deaths reported by the Hospital Authority, police and other government agencies, protesters continued with the blame game and insisted that there were protesters who were tortured to death. Exit B1 of Prince Edward MTR Station has been turned into a semi-permanent makeshift altar for protesters to pay their ‘last respect’ on a daily basis until today. Many confrontations between protesters and police have taken place at the MTR station exit and Mong Kok Police Station in the past few weeks. If protesters have indeed been brutally killed by police officers, surely the family members would have held media conference in the presence of pro-democracy legislative councillors to expose their misdeeds.
More recently, the 15-year-old teenage girl, Chan Yin Lam who was found dead in the sea in Yow Tong created huge controversy among the locals and many have speculated that she was murdered. Her death was suspected to be linked to police brutality as she was an activist before she passed away. Pro-democracy supporters disputed the authenticity of the CCTV footage released by Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) where she was last seen and they argued that an actress was used to make the video footage to conceal the truth. Aggrieved by the lack of accountability by HKDI, rioters damaged and destroyed facilities at HKDI causing classes to be suspended for 3 days. In a subsequent TVB interview, Chan’s mother condemned netizens for creating conspiracy theories on social media to blame her daughter’s death on police brutality.
Last Sunday, the Kowloon mosque attack was conveniently replaced as a new propaganda ammunition for protesters. They used the tarnished place of worship for the ethnic minority as a weapon against the police force after blue dye water cannon was sprayed on the premises. The fact that the protesters cleaned the mosque before the police officers has given them extra political mileage to feed their agenda especially in the international community. In response, the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam and Stephen Lo, Commissioner of Police paid a surprise visit the next morning to apologise to the Imams and representatives of the Kowloon Mosque. The swift action has impeded the protesters further to use this as a new political pawn and their victory was short-lived.
On Thursday (24th October), hundreds of Hong Kong protesters, some waving Catalan flags and banners urging “a fight for freedom together”, rallied in support of a separate Catalonia. Most protesters in Hong Kong want greater freedoms, among other demands, although a small minority is calling for independence. In that sense, they share some common ground with separatist demonstrators in Spain’s wealthy northeast region of Catalonia, which was rocked by protests after nine separatist leaders were sentenced this month to long prison terms for a failed independence bid in 2017. Some Hong Kong protesters went online to urge people not to attend, saying it was too provocative and risked denting international support for their own cause. However, a small fraction still thinks that Catalonia needs support, just like Hong Kong as pursuing democracy is a universal value.
Two days ago, Chan Tong-kai, 20 years old, the suspect who murdered his pregnant girlfriend in Taiwan was released from jail after he completed his sentence for money laundering offence. He is now in a Catch 22 situation after Taiwan and Hong Kong are arguing over the terms of his surrender. The Hong Kong authorities said they could not prosecute Chan for murder in Hong Kong, and that the lack of an extradition agreement with Taiwan meant he could not be sent there. It seems like the protesters have got what they wished for, the abolishment of the Extradition Bill at the expense of a murder suspect walking scot-free in Hong Kong even though he wants to surrender himself. Since his release two days ago, protesters on Telegram groups have remained radio silence on their ironic stance to indirectly harbour a murder suspect in Hong Kong.
The dynamic developments of recent events have significantly contributed to the gradual demise of the Hong Kong protests as the majority of the population want to get on with their lives and they do not want to see their beloved city destroyed further. The repetitive use of isolated incidents as propaganda tools to blame the police force and government and the persistent call for foreign powers to show solidarity with them have irked the majority. Furthermore, one of the five demands i.e. the extradition bill which was withdrawn formally on Wednesday has rendered the on-going fight futile. The call for investigation into police brutality has also prompted many to ask them to look into the mirror to ask themselves the same question, ‘What about the destruction you have caused to the public amenities and business premises?’ If protesters were going all out to destroy businesses that are linked to Beijing, they should not stop at Maxim’s, Best Mart 360, Xiaomi and state-owned banks etc. In fact, they should even target businesses whose founders are from China. The list of businesses in Hong Kong that are linked to the Chinese government is non-exhaustive, protesters can target SINOPEC petrol stations (owned by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing, China.), PetroChina petrol stations, media outlets such as SCMP ( Alibaba Group acquired the media properties of the SCMP Group, including the South China Morning Post.) and Ta Kung Pao office. Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka Shing was born in Chao’an, Chaozhou in Guangdong Province in 1928 and he owns Watson’s, Wellcome, ParknShop, Fusion and many others. At the end of the day, what do they seek to achieve by destroying businesses? Only looters and criminals will take advantage if protest-turned anarchy continues.
Meanwhile, police force have increased their momentum in countering illegal street rallies after the introduction of anti-mask law. Over 2,000 protesters have been arrested since June and this has definitely crippled the manpower of frontline protesters. Moving forward, if pro-democracy camp does not have a clear agenda to convince the majority of Hong Kongers and continues to resort to use of violence, the closing chapter of their movement will definitely arrive sooner than expected.