‘No crackdown on civil society’ continues

Are you one of the thousands who made donations to the 612 Humanities Fund, which helped with protesters’ legal costs? The Hong Kong police want to see the group’s records, and those of the pan-dem umbrella Alliance for True Democracy, suspecting threats to national security, collusion with foreign forces, etc. The wording of the police statement is almost a parody of sinister-intimidating-creepy-bureaucratese. 

If the NatSec cops do get hold of their details, will donors get a 6.00 am knock on the door? Will they be put under surveillance? Will the authorities inform their employers? Will employers – Vitasoy, say – feel the need to fire them? They will be in good company: among Fund trustees are former lawmakers Margaret Ng and (now jailed) Cyd Ho, Cardinal Joseph Zen and singer Denise Ho.

Which of course brings us to the HK Arts Centre’s cancellation of the forthcoming sold-out Denise Ho concerts, citing a public order/safety clause – saying it is ‘duty bound to observe closely the recent development in society and the laws concerned’. More here and here.

Seven pan-dem activists get 11-16-month prison sentences for ‘inciting’ and ‘organising’ an unauthorised assembly on October 20, 2019 (I think that was the one where the police water cannon managed to spray the mosque on Nathan Road)…

Six of them are already in jail for three previous cases of the same charges.

The Confederation of Trade Unions – which has dozens of affiliated labour groups – is next on the chopping block, according to Ta Kung Pao (which previously targeted Denise Ho).

The sound of bags being packed continues…

“Just two months ago, I believed that those who were leaving the city didn’t truly love the city,” a 26-year-old female primary schoolteacher told Nikkei, “but now emigration is slowly becoming an option at the back of my head.”

Still to come…

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9 Responses to ‘No crackdown on civil society’ continues

  1. Chinese Netizen says:

    Hong Kong: “Asia’s Securest* City”

    *yes, I know.

  2. YTSL says:

    “If the NatSec cops do get hold of their details, will donors get a 6.00 am knock on the door? Will they be put under surveillance? Will the authorities inform their employers? Will employers – Vitasoy, say – feel the need to fire them?”

    I don’t want to give the authorities ideas but: will donors’ bank accounts be frozen? The dangers of electronic financial transactions. More reason to opt for physical cash when one can. And yes, I can’t help but suspect that one major reason for banning protest marches and rallies, even before the pandemic, was to stop people from stuffing money into the boxes of pro-dem political parties and organizations like the 612 Humanitarian Fund.

  3. Mary Melville says:

    No wonder so many elderly have failed to receive the first tranche of the $5,000 spend spend spend coupons. Previously they popped into their DC’s office where friendly assistance was provided in filling out forms AND supporting document copied on the free of charge foto-copier. My ever helpful ex DC, like many others, would have set up a table on the street to provide advice on the scheme.
    Now grassroots and elderly have no where to turn to. Try contacting one of the community groups’ the CE promised would handle local issues………….. Ummmmm, like the district fire safety committee perhaps, no contact details available.
    Also no discussion on the conflicting messages being send out by government bureaus,
    FS with his spend spend spend mantra while EPB advises us to combat climate change and reduce, reuse and recycle???????????
    But then we know that one of the main obstacles to progress on many issues is there the departments work in silos and there is no visionary leadership.

  4. Chinese Netizen says:

    @Mary Melville: I’m shocked – SHOCKED! – the friendly local UF types haven’t stepped in to fill the void!

  5. donkey says:

    for those worrying about financial frozen assets…. cough, cough… .bitcoin

    one day you will get it. and you will see why china doesn’t want it around.

    it’s THE ONLY cryptocurrency that has solved the problem of how to create sovereign value that can not be taken away from you.

    but I know, i know. IT’S A BUBBLE! yawn.

  6. where's my jet plane says:

    @ Mary Melville
    it simply isn’t feasible to contact every elderly person in the city
    So said Jessie Wong of the FS’s Office on RTHK this morning and incidentally showing her ignorance of (a) not so modern communication techniques and (b) the existence of other administration departments.

    Sheer bureaucratic ineptitude and incompetence.
    First, the Social Welfare Dept has a complete list, with addresses, of all the elderly who are paid fruit money and of anyone who claims CSSA, in other words, the people who need that $5000. But of course, talking to a lesser ranking department is below the dignity of someone in the FS Office.

    Second, has she never heard of the HK Post? They deliver those old fashioned things called letters – a sure way of contacting someone who doesn’t use email or text messaging.

    We need a special circle of hell for such bureaucrats.

  7. Mjrelje says:

    HODL hahaha

  8. Low Profile says:

    @where’s my jet plane – “in other words, the people who need that $5000.”

    The handout is not about helping people who need it – that’s why it cannot be used for rental payments. It’s actually a complex way of handing taxpayers’ money over to the supermarket chains.

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