Anger swells against ‘Asia’s Finest’ for using violence
ONCE dubbed “Asia’s Finest”, Hong Kong’s police are fighting a llegations of using excessive v iolence against protesters, t heir headquarters besieged t wice in t he last week as ca lls for an independent inquir y into t heir tactics swell.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Wu Chi-wai was aghast as thick clouds of tear gas drifted through Hong Kong’s streets and rubber bullets slammed into ranks of protesters.
The international finance hub witnessed the worst political violence in a generation as police fought largely young demonstrators opposed to a now postponed plan to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.
The tear gas was initially deployed against small but hardcore groups of protesters – some throwing projectiles and using metal barriers as battering rams – who were trying to occupy the city’s parliament on June 12.
But the police response morphed into a sweeping clearance operation as officers turned their weapons on larger, mostly peaceful crowds of demonstrators who had occupied nearby roads.
Wu found himself in between police and demonstrator lines as a tear gas canister exploded behind him.
In scenes caught on video that went viral, Wu calmly walked towards the police, his hands raised, asking to speak to the commanding officer.
“I believe I posed no t hreat to t he police and I wanted to be a mediator. I hoped the police would a llow the protesters to leave safely and peacefully,” he said.
But his pleas fell on deaf ears. Police fired a round of tear gas close to his feet and he was forced to retreat.
‘No choice but to escalate’
That v ideo was just one of many from that day which have deeply polarised attitudes towards Hong Kong’s police, who will come under scrutiny again on Monday when the cit y hosts another protest, wit h organisers expecting a huge turnout.
The force did not respond to requests for comment or to inter v iew front line of ficers.
But police chief Stephen Lo has called the 12 June protest a riot with officers facing “life-threatening acts” and having “no choice but to escalate the use of force”.
The city’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam – who has not been seen in public for over a week – has similarly thrown her weight behind officers, praising them in a Thursday statement for their “distinguished professionalism and restraint”.
Yet public anger towards the force – especially among younger Hong Kongers – shows little sign of abating.
Twice now police headquarters have been blockaded by large crowds of protesters, among whose demands are an independent inquiry. Cleaners have had to repeatedly scrub walls of egg shells and graffiti, one of the slogans daubed in red paint and starkly declaring: “F-ck the Popo”.
Angry chants of “hak ging” – black cops – have now become commonplace, a pun on the phrase “black societies” which is used to describe triad gangs.
But it is not just protesters criticising the police.
Calls for an independent inquiry have come from a wide spectrum of former officials, rights advocates and legal groups, including the influential Hong Kong Bar Association.
“This has put tremendous pressure on frontline officers, who are caught between a rock and a hard place: civilian protesters who despise them and police management that issue orders to ‘shoot to wound’,” said Jason Ng, convenor of the Progressive Lawyers Group.
Police investigating police
Politica l analyst Dixon Sing said t here is l it t le fait h police will adequately investigate t hemselves.
“People surrounded the headquarters because they do not see that justice will be done by the current investigation mechanism,” Sing said.
He said the force’s reputation was already struggling after officers were used to suppress pro-democracy “Umbrella Movement” protests in 2014 that won no concessions from Beijing.
When officers were filmed beating up a protester, t he police’s own investigation initia lly recommended no charges. And when a court finally did jail t he of ficers, thousands of t heir colleag ues ra llied in a park against t he conv iction.
“Many people in Hong Kong, not just protesters but t he genera l public, saw that the police were being manipulated … to repress the largely peaceful Umbrella Movement,” Sing said.
Locals, media and the government’s own literature often refer to the force as “Asia’s finest” and Hong Kong remains a remarkably safe place to live with low levels of theft and violent crime, despite huge inequalities.
Officers were lauded for their efficiency and honesty while many of their counterparts across Asia earned reputations for brutality and graft.
But critics say the force being used as the speartip of Beijing’s efforts to suppress growing calls for democracy risk fatally undermining that history.
“The rapid decline has coincided with a ratcheting up of force unleashed on unarmed and largely peaceful protesters,” concluded Ng.
“The public image of … Asia’s Finest has gone from bad to worse.”