'Government creating climate of fear and mistrust'

Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung. Photo: RTHK

Alvin Yeung

Civic Party leader and lawmaker Alvin Yeung on Sunday said the anti-government protests are not just aimed at officials.



Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, he said the pro-democracy movement is about resisting totalitarianism, and he pointed to what he called a climate of fear and mistrust pervading society.



Yeung said it is no longer safe to openly criticise the government because doing so might cost people their jobs.



He cited the example of the Secretary for Education confirming last Sunday that 13 teachers in local schools have been reprimanded for what he calls hate speech and expressing inciting views.



Yeung said what these teachers did was criticise the police and the government for their treatment of protesters.



He also mentioned the airline staff who were fired for criticising the government - even though they had done so in private social media posts.



And he criticised the police force's handling of the New Year's Day march, when the organisers were told to end the rally early, despite the huge number of people taking part.



Yeung also took Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung to task for his defence of the police's inaction on July 21 at Yuen Long MTR station, when a mob attacked protesters and passengers at random, and the police were conspicuous by their absence.