HK chaos now entering its finale
Updated: 2019-11-07 07:24
By Paul Yeung(HK Edition)
As another wave of violent protest activities rocked Hong Kong over the past weekend, people are increasingly worried about when and how this chaotic situation will end. No one has a crystal ball, but there are three factors which suggest the special administrative region is entering the final stage of the chaos.
The first factor is the message delivered by the central government. President Xi Jinping, who just met with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in Shanghai, has expressed the central authorities’ firm support for the SAR government’s efforts to restore order. The president’s message conveyed in their first meeting since the unrest broke out in June is critical. He expressed a “high degree of trust” in the chief executive and “full acknowledgement” of the SAR government’s response to the ongoing disturbances. He also emphasized that to curb the violence and stop the chaos remained the most important task faced by Hong Kong. That was a clear message from Beijing that it would not condone the continuation of violence and demand that the rule of law be upheld in the SAR. This means that the SAR government, with support from the central government, will put much more effort into dealing with the chaos soon.
The second is the actions of the police force. In the past few weeks, the police were adopting more rigorous and effective tactics to combat street violence. They tended to take quick action to disperse crowds instead of forming a defense line first. Just take the Saturday riots as an example. The riot police quickly announced the illegal nature of the event and made mass arrests in Wan Chai, Central and Causeway Bay. Eventually, more than 200 people were arrested that day for offenses including unlawful assembly and violating the mask ban. The new tactics not only increased the effectiveness of their operations, but also increased the cost of participating in these unlawful activities. Facing the risk of being arrested, those radical protesters and their supporters would think twice before participating in such activities in future.
The third is the opposition camp’s expectations for the upcoming District Council elections. Though the radical protesters are keen on expressing their views through direct actions, the opposition camp, while backing the former in the past five months, are interested in winning seats in the DC elections. That is part of their plan to seize the governing power of the city after creating so much chaos. Their expectations in this regard are realistic. The campaign by protesters for the authorities to meet their five demands cannot be sustained. They all realized the SAR government, with strong backing from the central authorities, simply will not give in. What worries them the most is that the election might be disrupted by the violent and unlawful activities they have supported so far. No matter how reluctant they are, they must now persuade the radical protesters to put an end to their trouble-making.
The DC elections, scheduled for Nov 24, might have to be postponed if the violence and vandalism during recent weekend protests persist on polling day. For instance, if voters cannot reach polling stations because of chaos or even violence in nearby areas, or if some candidates are harassed while canvassing votes, it would affect the fairness of the elections and force the administration to postpone the elections. Hence, the opposition camp would urge radical protesters to stop for the sake of the elections, although whether they would listen is questionable. The opposition camp is running out of time. There are only three weeks before the elections. They would hope to reign in this monster they have created and used before it is too late.
One quote of Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, best describes the current situation: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Maybe we are suffering from the chaos, but we should believe that it is just the darkest hour before the dawn.
(HK Edition 11/07/2019 page8)