CE has become a 'liability' for SAR: commentator

Accusations of police brutality have mounted since the protests began last year. File photo: Shutterstock

Political commentator, Cheung Chor-yung, said on Friday that the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, is a political liability for Hong Kong and the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle.



Cheung, a senior teaching fellow at City University, said most fair-minded people would not agree with her absolute denial of police brutality towards protesters.



Lam made the comment while addressing the Legislative Council on Thursday.



Cheung says the Chief Executive is cornered, because her reliance on the police means she has no choice but to support them.



"There's a political price to pay for that, I think, because the more you do that, then the more you diverge from the public perception of the people and [from] the demands of the people," Cheung said.



"And the refusal to launch a kind of independent inquiry into the whole crisis - I think - also leads ... to the same political dead end and that's why I think the Chief Executive is now a political liability for Hong Kong."



He said he expected the political crisis to continue and it would be very difficult to regain mutual trust between the government, the police and the public.



Questioned about allegations of police brutality on Thursday, the Chief Executive said police were using the lowest level of force required to tackle violent protesters. She also said the force was being "smeared" and "demonised" in an attempt to diminish officers' ability to enforce the law.