Many condemn HKU student union’s mourning for attacker
▶ City’s education needs ‘ thorough detoxification’
The University of Hong Kong ( HKU) student union council received waves of criticism after it expressed condolences to the offender who carried out a vicious attack on a police officer, and even said it was “grateful for his sacrifice.” This incident, along with the recent national security case involving students, exposed hidden dangers in Hong Kong’s education sector, experts noted.
Just hours after the student union council’s open expression of mourning, the university authorities strongly condemned the action, which glorified violent attacks in the name of the student union council.
“Students’ use of ‘ sacrifice’ to describe the alleged terrorist attack on the police officer will convey the wrong message to the community,” said a spokesperson. “The university condemns all acts of violence and opposes any speech and behavior that promotes and rationalizes violence.”
On Thursday, the Hong Kong Security Bureau strongly criticized the student union council’s glorification of the attempted murder of a police officer, noting that the act supports and promotes terrorism, which is inhumane and makes the union an enemy of the public.
In a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday, the Hong Kong Police Force said they feel extremely disappointed and angry toward the public mourning, and they “cannot understand why the council would send condolences to an attacker.”
Government officials and the police have repeatedly warned that mourning for suspects involved in terrorist attacks is a glorification of terrorism and may violate the national security law.
In a separate case related to national security, of the nine suspects arrested under the national security law for Hong Kong for attempting to make bombs and planning a series of attacks, six were secondary school students and one was a staff member of Hong Kong Baptist University.
The two incidents reflect a long legacy of problems in Hong Kong’s education system that desperately calls for a thorough detoxification, experts noted.
The incidents have sounded an alarm to the Hong Kong education sector, Tang Fei, principal at Hong Kong’s Heung To Secondary School ( Tseung Kwan O), said on Thursday.
“For over 20 years, the education sector in Hong Kong has been deeply affected and poisoned by extremist thinking. Although the national security law has brought some improvements, it will not be fixed overnight,” Tang said.
Tang said that HKU must impose severe punishment and re- education on the students who were involved in the incident, to make them deeply aware of the nature of the incident. If necessary, extremist student organizations can be banned according to the university’s regulations.