Last week, it was cops attacking a pregnant object, this week it’s the 12-year-old school-object and frame her – classy! The police also found time over the weekend to make an arrest on suspicion of uttering seditious words. Tam Tak-chi’s alleged crime is a tad archaic, being Article 10 here. The previous article makes it an offense to…
…bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person of Her Majesty, or Her Heirs or Successors, or against the Government of Hong Kong, or the government of any other part of Her Majesty’s dominions [blah blah]…
You have to wonder what the CCP’s cadres make of this legal phrasing. Tam’s arrest almost makes chasing and grappling with a tweeny schoolgirl seem a reasonable act of professional and disciplined law enforcement.
Yesterday’s ‘protest’ in Mongkok would have been barely noticeable – some chanting and singing in some already-crowded and noisy streets – had the police simply not been there. It seems the cops are sticking to their create-mayhem arrest-hundreds strategy that proved so successful last year. Presumably those are the orders from our CCP friends.
Speaking of which…
CCP in charge now #1. Yesterday should have been a LegCo election, but Beijing’s officials insisted it be called off to avert a slaughter of their widely-loathed loyalists. The cancellation, for at least 12 months, is unconstitutional. Two experts patiently explain why the government’s excuse – the Coronavirus – is absurd.
Some, mainly older/moderate, pan-dem lawmakers are still dithering over whether to take their seats in the illegitimate extended council. Officially, they fondly hope that can make a difference by staying in, but if that were the case the CCP would not let them. More likely they are wedded to the formalities and symbolism of the body (and the pay and allowances don’t hurt).
It is hard to believe that by September 2021, the CCP will have won over the Hong Kong public’s hearts and minds sufficiently to feel confident about holding an election under the usual semi-free-and-fair system. The next election will be more blatantly rigged – or there simply won’t be one.
CCP in charge now #2. Old Liberal Party stalwarts (hello Selena!) write to Chief Executive Carrie Lam pleading for an independent commission of inquiry into the 7-21 Yuen Long and 8-31 Prince Edward atrocity-incidents. It is, they say, the only hope of repairing relations between the police and public, and of enabling the community to ‘move on as one’. They also point out that it would look good – like something Hong Kong used to do back in the days of ‘1 Country 2 Systems’ when it was an open society. Which is, of course, why our CCP masters won’t hear of such an idea.
Other stuff to get the week off to a positive start…
Former ICAC boss and pro-Beijing cheerleader Tony Kwok laments the arrests of Hong Kong fugitives trying to get to Taiwan. He blames several magistrates with ‘pro-protest leanings’ who hand out bail too readily. (Good analysis of the whole article by Jerome Cohen.) Given that some judges in non-NatSec cases still show signs of independence, it is inevitable that the CCP’s local stooges will increasingly call for rectification of the judiciary.
CNN on Oriental Daily’s obsessive and murky vendetta against Jimmy Lai.
Atlantic on how Hong Kong (and Bolivia and Thailand, among others) use social-distancing rules for political ends. In Hong Kong, they fine protesters and foreign maids, yet ignore denser crowds of well-off whites outside bars in Peel Street – named (the article points out) for the founder of modern and impartial public-service policing.
Anyone who has had dealings with second-/third-generation tycoons’ kids will recognize the painful longing to sound serious and relevant exhibited by Daryl Ng (Sino Land scion) after David Webb outed him as sponsor of a kiddies’ cartoon story aimed at healing Hong Kong’s divisions. These are the tycoons’ kids struggling with their conscience; others are oblivious to the world.
On protest art: Cartoonist Badiucao’s take on Mulan, and Google Streetview (using up a lot of my time now as a proxy for vacations in Taiwan and Japan) is now showing prime 2019 uprising Hong Kong in all its glory
Big, tough, badass, hero cops. Blue Lives Can Fuck Off.
My favorite scion is the former head of the Youth Commission Lau Ming-wai, whose father is a wanted felon from what I understand.
Over the past two weeks I have received several $100 and $20 notes with Chinese characters written over the watermark on the front of the notes.
Different pro independence slogans, and one in English saying Free Hong Kong.
This is an interesting tactic.
If everyone wrote a slogan on one or two notes in their wallet, they would begin to circulate and not much could be done about it.
Problem is, that with credit cards and Octopus etc, not many people are using cash these days.
Still, an interesting protest that is hard to contain.
The Story of the Sand and Sea People:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiKKKWJsn2w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWdr-7jXZRQ
All so very simple!
Penny.
That’s all right, then. No further need to worry.
I much appreciated the “Let’s build a kinder and better community with love and respect” exhortation at the end.
Reminded me of the equally snappy “Let’s work together to eliminate rodent nuisance”.
Now if only Hong Kong would listen to its élite band of government sloganeers, the sun would shine anew on “Asia’s World City”. Nice!
@Penny, Red Dragon
Surely Sino Land would’ve reclaimed vast volumes of the sea and poured concrete over the paradise of “fruit and foliage” found by the blue-yellow couple. Meanwhile, the po-po would’ve beaten the bejaysus out of the sand dwellers before that yellow romeo had a chance to father the green thing, whom they christened reductive #4.
And what about the bus driver who after being forced to idle forever due to inexplicable blockage of traffic on Nathan stepped on the pedal when he finally emerged from the tailback? At one section the police forced pedestrians to walk out onto the road because………….. for no reason other than a whim that they needed more room on the pavement. I did ask why they were blocking the traffic as there was an ambulance stuck in the middle of hundreds of buses but was told to keep moving,
There were no protesters on Nathan Road so bringing traffic to a halt was nothing more than a ‘because we can do it’. Will not go into the air pollution and noise generated by a row of vehicles parked along the middle of the road all the way from Jordan to Argyle. Neither will I question some of the very weird masks, looked like line up of Marvel wannabes.
“In Hong Kong, they fine protesters and foreign maids, yet ignore denser crowds…”
I was thinking about this fact yesterday as I stood on a packed train on my way to a crowded shopping mall just before I went to a crowded computer centre.
Thank Dear Leader that the election was called off so that we could maintain social distancing to avoid the Wuhan Flu!
Regarding the 12 year young girl shopping for art supplies: the world watches the chinese state reveal itself. Perhaps the girl will be prosecuted for her part in the episode which has helped to bring even more contempt bringagainst the Popo.
Tony Kwok should be investigated for (1) contempt of court for prejudicing pending criminal proceedings and (2) scandalising the judiciary. Given he likes to brandish his former law enforcement credentials to add a gloss of merit to his screed, he should know better.
Mary – As far as I am concerned, most bus drivers drive too fast and too close to pedestrians, and use their horns too frequently. In this case, unfortunately for the driver you mentioned, the pedestrians just happened to be po po.
Hibernian – The train you were on was probably more crowded than it would have otherwise been if the government controlled MTR didn’t reduce service because of low ridership due to WuFlu.
Oops! I see a typo in my previous post.
That reminds me of some local schools…which have, according to very good sources, already begun referring to the mainland as ‘the Motherland’ during Liberal Studies and General Studies classes.
HKH
There’s lots of things the lass can be charged with: first, running so she must be guilty of something; second, resisting arrest; third, assaulting a policeman because he caused her to run into him; fourth, causing actual bodilty harm to a policeman by making him fall on her; fifth, a second charge of resisting arrest by lying on the ground under a policeman; sixth, soliciting and possibly public indecency for the same reason; seventh, disturbing the peace.
Last but not least, as you say, a catch-all NIL offence of bringing the HK Police into disrepute.
And she will be refused legal aid.
On my way to shop in Yaumatei yesterday afternoon, the XHT traffic had been reduced to a slow crawl. It transpired that the uniformed thugs had blocked five of the seven exit lanes. Hours later, on my way home, they were still there – searching for non-existent terrorists or maybe anyone who happened to be wearing black.
And they wonder why the majority of HK people hate them – that is, apart from attacking 12-year-old girls, putting youngsters in choke holds and needlessly dragging them along the ground. Still angry.
Minimum force used to restrain 12 yr-old girl!
Knocked to the ground and fallen on by about 70kg of heavily equipped copper and “Three officers then restrained the girl”.
Even if the girl was up to no good. it doesn’t say much for the competence of the lads in riot gear.
Penny
If it’s any consolation, the Po Po will eventually find the “terrorists” they are looking for and not quite the way they intended. You reap what you sow etc.
From Tony Kwok’s article:
” these fugitives would unlikely keep their mouths shut under interrogation by Chinese mainland law enforcement agents. With the continental legal system similar to most European countries, they cannot resort to their “right of silence” on the mainland. The suspects are obliged to answer all questions, but the whole interview process is fair because the mainland has long adopted a video recording system for all interviews of suspects.”
If the last sentence appeared on this website, either above or below the line, we would all know that it was ironic.
I may be over-interpreting, but perhaps he is being ironic in his way. He is signalling to his superiors, his associates, and his readers that he is one of the guys, he knows that the interview process is not fair, but, like them, he connives at it.
Agree with Red Dragon (05 September) regarding the high quality of Geremie Barmié’s letter.
On the subject of uttering seditious words, the section in the letter relating to Document Number 9 struck a chord:
‘Among other things that document imposed a ban on the teaching, research into or study of seven dangerous Western values, including human rights, media freedom, constitutional democracy and judicial independence.’
How long before signing Document No.9 becomes a condition of employment for all school teachers and university lecturers?
That should read ‘school teachers and university lecturers in Hong Kong?’.
Gromit – In addition to the seven dangerous Western values, there are now the five never-allows, apparently:
https://twitter.com/jeromeacohen/status/1301971334948364289
On the Ng children in Sino Land trying to sound serious and “do something”.
Having interacted with Daryl Ng far too much I can relate to Hemlock’s implication of being quite the waste of space. To be fair, it’s not just Daryl. Ng Senior Heir Fuhrer used to run a lot with his sister, I forget her name now, but remember that she was much more poisonous. Which is probably why I forget her name.
The Ng second generation are, in the end, like basically all of Hong Kong’s second and third generation scavengers: massively and enormously over-promoted, and unloved by the hordes.
What if by some magic Daryl Ng and Sister Ng were evicted from Hong Kong and transported to New York or London or Sydney, to deliver on daddy Robert’s edict: “Survive!” Result? Daryl Ng and Sister Ng would be pointless shadows inside a decade, reduced to buying and selling overpriced apartments, or consulting for HR departments, or wallahs for Chinese Chambers of Commerce. Basically pointless. How ironic that in Hong Kong they have a chance to scavenge around grander yet still feel left out and belittled. Shaking my head….