HK rioters ‘feeling tired’
▶ People want peace, not endless chaos: observers
The Hong Kong turmoil has continued for more than seven months, and now, a few days ahead of Chinese New Year, many protesters and rioters have expressed their tiredness and sense of failure, with observers noting that due to the public desire to restore peace, firm law enforcement by the police and national sanctions against foreign forces, the source of chaos has been effectively contained.
However, there is still occasional violence, especially during the weekends. On Sunday, illegal assemblies took place in the city, public facilities were damaged and unarmed police officers responsible for community liaison were attacked by rioters and seriously injured.
Four males were arrested by the police after they were found to be in possession of hammers, spanners, extendible sticks, spray paint and gloves, said police on their Facebook account.
The scale of the illegal assemblies in Hong Kong is getting much smaller and the number of participants is dropping, said some Hong Kong residents. On LIHKG, a social media network frequently used by protesters to spread information to organize protests and riots, some protesters posted that they felt “disappointed” and “tired” because many of them are no longer motivated to join assemblies, protests and riots as they have “no more money to pay their bills if they don’t go back to work.”
Victor Chan Chi-ho, a vice chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Young Commentators, told the Global Times that radical protesters or rioters that prefer to use violence are no longer useful for the opposition camp, as they already won the District Councils Election in November 2019, so now they sense that they are being abandoned by their allies.
“Over the months-long turmoil, the majority of people have become tired of the endless chaos, and no matter which side they might support, most of them would like to restore public order and continue with their lives,” Chan said.
“They [rioters] were being used by foreign forces and politicians from the opposition camp, and now they have been abandoned and gained nothing,” said a Hong Kong-based observer, 28, who used to participate in many protests in 2019 and is familiar with the operation of the opposition camp, adding that “While the opposition camp are enjoying the political benefits, many of the rioters were arrested and are in jail.”
Many protesters said on LIHKG that they felt a “sense of failure” because many people around them wanted to get back to their “normal lives” rather than continually participate in illegal assemblies and protests.
Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Sunday that “from the very beginning, foreign interference was the main reason why the turmoil could turn from normal protests to large scale and endless unrest. With foreign interference reduced, the participants and organizers will lose income and will not be able to stay motivated.”
Some Hong Kong residents also believe that the firm and effective law enforcement by the Hong Kong Police has also been crucial, because many rioters have been arrested and the anti-government forces have been effectively damaged.