Formerly Hong Kong’s chief executive, CY Leung retired several years ago to his garden, deciding not to seek a second term and saving himself from presiding over this summer’s anti-extradition mess. Still, he has found ways of keeping himself involved.

On Saturday, protesters took down the Chinese national flag flying on the Tsim Sha Tsui side of Victoria Harbour and threw it into the sea. They then replaced it by raising flags with the words “Hong Kong Independence.”

In response, CY Leung sent out a series of angry Facebook posts, condemning the “extremist” protesters and even offering up an HK$1 million ($127,000) reward for information leading to their capture and prosecution.

Desecrating or insulting China’s national flag or emblem is a crime in Hong Kong, punishable by up to three years in prison.

Dozens of Hong Kong residents gather in Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong, safeguarding the rule of law and condemning flag-insulting acts committed by some radical protesters pic.twitter.com/P8j56rCv9R — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 5, 2019

While most news coming out of Hong Kong of late has been heavily censored on Chinese social media, this particular incident raised quite the ruckus with Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the nationalistic tabloid the Global Times, acting as the “voice of reason.”

“I was at Mong Kok this afternoon when rioters took down the national flag and dumped it in the sea,” he wrote on Weibo. “I believe sooner or later they will be brought to justice. Payback time always comes around.

“Let’s keep calm,” he cautioned. “We will wait for the people of Hong Kong to punish these bastards themselves. Hong Kong is highly autonomous and so they have the responsibility to protect their own home.”

“If they don’t stop these rioters, then the demise of Hong Kong is their collective destiny… I want to believe that the people of Hong Kong are not that stupid or cowardly.”

CY Leung has recently shown Hu Xijin levels of activity and distortion on social media. In one case last week, the former Hong Kong leader posted a photo of a man wearing a “USA” shirt at a protest outside a Sha Tin police station in an apparent attempt to show “foreign forces” at work in the demonstrations.

On 19 October 2014, former Hong Kong leader CY Leung alleged, without offering evidence, that "foreign forces" were behind pro-democracy protests. Now he has found proof https://t.co/JItVckQk89 pic.twitter.com/vZJXDkUOqd — Alan Wong (@alanwongw) August 2, 2019