No riots in Hong Kong

I originally thought of writing another Q&A to clarify the smearing of the "riots" in Hong Kong by the mainland Chinese media in the past two days. But after thinking about it, it turns out that things are not that complicated. Five pictures are enough to explain.

The first one was taken by Zhongxin tonight. The scene is that the perimeter of the government headquarters was once again occupied by citizens. Yesterday, Carrie Lam said that there would be no legislation, but the actual action was only to withdraw the second reading debate notice to the Legislative Council. In terms of parliamentary procedure, legislation goes through consultation, first reading, committee discussion, second reading and third reading. Her current practice is just to pause, and she can come back with the same version in the second reading program at any time. The citizens demanded a complete withdrawal, so today more than a million people took to the streets.

But what I want to say is the ambulance in the middle of this photo. The accident happened suddenly, and an ambulance happened to be at the scene. So the crowd, like Moses dividing the Red Sea, suddenly made a way for the ambulance to pass quickly.

In the past few days, many people have slandered the protesters in Hong Kong as being incited, receiving money, and even pawns of foreign forces. I think anyone with a little thinking ability would suspect that there is no foreign power that can buy millions of people at one time, and this group of people is so angry with the government, but at the same time, they can have such a high quality of citizens and such self-discipline , so united, so tender.

The second one is from Wednesday the twelfth, when the conflict was at its most intense. At that time, there was a mother, without any protective equipment on her hands, standing in front of an entire row of heavily armed police officers. She was photographed by the media crying and saying the following words (originally in Cantonese, the following is a written translation):

"I am a woman's family, for what? I don't hate you, I know you are also for work. I know you have a mission. But you really closed the team, okay? I am someone's mother, and you all have mothers; these Young people have mothers! Don't you want to do this? As I beg you, lay down your weapons, okay? They are all young people, teenagers, how can you fight? Boom! You are all fathers, and you will all be fathers in the future! You will also have children! Why beat such a young child? Stop the team!

Enough, the tear gas canisters have been thrown at me, I have been thrown a few tear gas canisters by you, and I have paid the price! One step back, okay? I am not attacking you, I have no weapons at all! Why do you deal with a woman's family like this, do you feel okay?

When you entered the police academy, you weren't greedy for this high-paying job, right? You're all for a little sense of justice, too, aren't you? I'm not a bad person, I'm not heinous! You told them to stop, okay? You tell them to stop, I beg you! "

What I want to say is that the people who were at the scene that day are probably the ones most qualified to witness what happened. I think anyone with a little thinking ability would ask if the riot happened that day, if the young people who were fighting were thugs, and if the force of the police was proportionate, why would this mother say the above?

Yes, the story is not over. After the mother said these words, the officers fired pepper guns at her without warning her, under the premise of being completely incapable of attacking the police. Later, she confessed that at that moment, she thought she was going to die, and it was the young people nearby who saved her.

The third photo, also from Wednesday the 12th, was when the police were driving away the demonstrators. At that time, a foreigner sat on the side of the road, did not participate in the demonstration, did not interfere with the police's actions, and told the police with an injured voice that he could not walk. What do the police do? Surround him and spray him with pepper spray at close range. What kind of executive job is this? What kind of policing is this? The force of the police is given by the people and used to protect the people. In other words, if no one is hurt, the police cannot use force, otherwise the police themselves are breaking the law. In fact, these police officers have violated Article 13 of the "Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials" and Chapter 29 of the "General Police Regulations" "The use of force is limited to the minimum necessary".

The fourth, still from Wednesday the 12th, outside the Legislative Council. This photo is weird enough too. The first few are reporters, and the equipment on their bodies says PRESS, which means reporters. They are obviously doing interviews, and they are far away from the police line of defense, and there is no possibility of attacking the police. However, behind the wall, another policeman suddenly appeared and attacked the reporters with pepper spray. Strange? Before the police use force, they must be warned. How could a sneak attack be possible? What's more, the other party is obviously a reporter? The policeman has violated Article 39-05 of the "General Police Regulations" "Persons at the scene of the incident shall not obstruct the media's filming work" and committed the crime of common assault.

The last one, which is the only one widely circulated in mainland China, comes from the clashes outside the Legislative Council from the evening of June 9 to the early morning of June 10, and a policeman broke his head. This photo was identified by mainland Chinese media as evidence that the protesters in Hong Kong were thugs. Looking through the media's shooting video, when the police officer was injured, there were shouts at the scene, "what do you do yourself?" It turned out that the police at the scene were not very professional and hit their own people by mistake.

Unfortunately, this photo was used by mainland Chinese media to smear Hong Kong protesters. In fact, in the daily news broadcast in mainland China, "the leaders are very busy, the people are very good, and the foreign countries are very chaotic", I am afraid not many people will think that it is 100% true. So why should mainland Chinese media reports on Hong Kong be serious? Thinking further, these smears are clearly purposeful: when people in mainland China blame Hong Kong people and cannot see the bravery of Hong Kong people, they will achieve the effect of maintaining stability in mainland China.

The last one to add: the sea of people outside the Pacific Place in Admiralty today.

People's eyes are sharp.

(The serialization of "Hong Kong Lesson 1" is suspended for one day each day)