A personal view of the current protests in Hong Kong by former police Senior Superintendent Stuart McDouall

On Sunday afternoon, 22 December 2019, a licensed and peaceful public rally of a few hundred people, in support of the Uygur population in the far north of China, took place in Central. It was quietly infiltrated by young demonstrators clad in their black guise and improvised armour, carrying rucksacks containing their weaponry. Police on crowd control duty took no offensive action until the protestors, as one, fanned out to block the roads, deploying barriers, railings and rubbish bins, shouting slogans, smashing lights, attacking adjacent shop-fronts and also pulling down a Chinese flag from its pole. The rally broke up with innocent people scattering to the road sides where crowds of spectators and journalists were gathering.

The police moved in to stop the demonstrators and a riot ensued. Due to the confined space of the action the rioters and the police were engaged at close quarters. The police only used shields and batons, pepper spray and their bare hands to arrest the culprits but, in doing so, suffered injuries themselves from rioters striking with metal poles, hammers and bricks. In one melee a police officer drew his gun to ward-off advancing demonstrators and journalists. “Journalists?” you query. Yes. The demonstrators have, over the last few month,s developed a tactic of dressing like journalists in yellow vests and using their mobile ‘phones as if they are photographers. In groups they surround police who are making arrests so as to prevent their colleagues from coming to their assistance and to effect the escape of the arrested person. When questioned, these fake journalists say they are working for net media.

The young people of Hong Kong waging this war against their own society are heedless of the desires of everyone but themselves. We know from the stats of those arrested, for offences ranging from riot and possession of offensive weapons through criminal damage, obstructing a police officer, assault, up to wounding, that 95% of the demonstrators are under 30 years of age. Of the nearly 7,000 arrests 41% are students (1,000 of them under 18 years of age) and the remaining 59% include recent university alumni working in education, social welfare and as staff in the medical, legal, accounting and engineering professions in that order.

Those not in higher education include staff from the service industry including catering, retail and security. At tea with a retired Anglican clergyman I heard the story of the first of 80 teachers arrested for criminal offences during the riots. She was a student of one of the two most prestigious girls schools in Hong Kong. She went on to obtain a degree from HKU and then qualified as a teacher, joining the staff of a secondary school. Now, aged 22, she has been charged and convicted of criminal offences she committed during the riots. It turns out that, at university, she learned of the June 4th,1989 Tiananmen Square massacre (over 100 deaths) in Beijing when a student rebellion was brutally crushed by the Chinese army. The impression this had on her inspired her to join in the present anti-establishment and Chinese government riots. Furthermore she incited some of her students to follow her example.

A teacher friend of mine, in higher education, says it is widely known that teachers have been engaging in the sedition of pupils. Why is this the case one might ask? In society, overall, teachers and social workers are comparatively well paid. But it is true to say that they, as with all other professions, are not earning enough in their formative years to get themselves onto the property ladder. But, having said that, it is also true to say that their parents and their grand-parents had exactly the same struggle to get on to the property ladder. Today’s younger generations have been brought up in much smaller families with high individual expectations borne of parental generosity with gifts and nice clothes, foreign holidays and, in many, many cases, maids to do their bidding. When they start out in the adult world and find that life is not a bed-of-roses they fret and complain, demanding “my rights”.

None of these under 30s are old enough to remember and appreciate life in Hong Kong before the hand-over in 1997. I say ‘appreciate’ because Hong Kong was ruled by Great Britain through a British Governor and his Executive Council who were not democratically elected. And yet all the trappings of a democracy existed including urban (district) council elections. There was freedom of the press and of speech, there was an independent judiciary and justice for all under a British-styled system of law and order. There was free education, a generous social welfare net, affordable housing and affordable medical and health services for all. These institutions remain in place as part of the one-country-two-systems agreement for 50 years. And there was no reason to believe that these would be forfeit before the end of said agreement until, that is, our young rebels of today decided to destroy the fabric of our free society, even more free than it was pre-1997.

Talking to older citizens one realises the depth of their fears for Hong Kong. It is not a fear of physical violence for they can stay away from the riots. It is that deep-seated fear of the loss of their way of life, the threat of being unable to make a living, the new pressures on their children’s future. the threat of the premature ending of the one-country-two-systems agreement just 22 years into that 50 year agreement.

In previous articles I have mentioned that the street economy and the tourist industry of Hong is in dire straits. Newly released figures reveal that total tourism in the last quarter is down by 56% and tourists from China down by 80%. That the stock market and the banking sector remain strong, maintaining Hong Kong’s liquidity, is entirely thanks to Chinese money being pumped into the economy. But that same money is also pushing up the cost-of-living index, making daily life more expensive than even in the UK and the USA. A United Nations report, released last week, on the economy of the Asia-Pacific region, states this was the worst 12 months for trade, principally in goods and services, since the global financial crisis ten years ago. By volume exports are down by 2.5% and imports by 3.5% – figures that are still rising. The main culprit cited is the US/China trade spat and, for services, the down-turn in tourism in Hong Kong similarly affecting the whole region. A very visible sign of Hong Kong’s shrinking economy is the cancellation of the traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Victoria Harbour, one of the worlds biggest fireworks extravaganzas.

Support, including, funding for the continuation of these disturbances, is popularly believed to be coming from dissident mainland Chinese who have made their homes in Hong Kong and other parts of the world, shifting their money out of China and investing in foreign stocks and property. Their aim is to prevent mainland Chinese interference in Hong Kong, particularly the extradition law that was a big threat to them. By keeping up the pressure on China they hope to dissuade them from further meddling. But they tread a fine line between maintaining their desired life-style and freedoms and provoking China into unilateral, intrusive and forceful action.

Another source of funding is by ‘crowd funding’ organised by a dissident fundraising platform called Spark Alliance HK. Last Thursday the Financial Investigation Group of the police force conducted a raid on a premises arresting four persons for money laundering offences and seizing in excess of HK$70,000,000 that is now subject of a confiscation order. Evidence has been found of a distribution network to the demonstrators and for purchasing their equipment but also evidence that one person controlling the funds was using the money for his, and his friends, private investments. Further evidence of money laundering activity; hiding the source of the assets; is being investigated.

President Xi Jin-ping has just completed a three day visit to Macau which is Hong Kong’s neigbouring SAR (Special Administrative Region). On this tour down south Xi has, unsurprisingly, excluded Hong Kong from his itinerary. Whilst in Macau he made several speeches in which he lauded the stability, social cohesion and work ethic that has made the former Portuguese enclave peaceful and prosperous. Although he never mentioned Hong Kong his praise of Macau is seen as indirect criticism of Hong Kong; a subtle warning to get its house in order.

On Friday 20 December messages, on We Chat and other internet fora, were circulating about demonstrations planned for the weekend. And, sure enough, in the early evening that same day, the familiar black-clad protestors emerged in the shopping malls above the Sha Tin and Yuen Long MTR (Mass Transit Railway) stations, marching through, shouting slogans, spray-painting graffiti and frightening the throngs of shoppers and visitors there. In Sha Tin’s multi-storey mall glass-partition railings on upper floors were smashed with hammers. In Kowloon the upmarket Harbour City shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui was targeted by masked demonstrators dressed in black and carrying bars, hammers and cans of spray-paint who spent the afternoon roaming around the shops and eateries advising the public not to patronise places that had not come out in support of the demonstrators. The police tried to peacefully direct them away from said mall but scuffles ensued and pepper spray was used to stop them.

In Tai Po, New Territories, detectives, acting on information, intercepted an 18-year-old matriculation student who pulled out a handgun and fired at the police as they closed in on him. No one was hurt and the shooter was subdued. In a subsequent search of his flat an AR15 military assault rifle and ammunition was found. The police believe the intention was to kill a bystander in a riot situation over the Christmas holidays and blame the police who have one officer, the orderly, in every Police Tactical Unit (PTU) platoon armed with an AR15. The police have intercepted a gunman and neutralised three bomb and fake-bomb manufacturing syndicates in the last fortnight, marking a significant escalation in the violent protests. In Hong Kong Island there were no such outbreaks of unrest and life carried on as normal. In fact, that same Friday afternoon, there was a pro-government demonstration by 300 persons, outside the headquarters of the HSBC in Central district, in support of the Hong Kong Police.

There is an interesting article in the South China Morning Post (21 December) where a public health professional says the police should not use ‘tear gas’. He talks at length about the adverse effects of tear gas that, “…taken in large quantities” (his words) can cause “lung inflammation and fatal pulmonary oedema – lung tissue swelling so severely it can cause death”. The active agent in Tear Gas is o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, commonly called CS gas. When ignited it evolves into a hot, stinging, visible smoke which is why the police use the term ‘tear smoke’. The effects on the eyes are similar to standing in the way of smoke emitted from barbecue-fire cooking. On skin, especially if sweating, tear smoke stings and, if breathed in, it causes a burning sensation in the lungs, lasting up to a minute depending on how much was inhaled in one breath. To-date, in these prolonged riots, there have been no fatalities, not even a hospitalisation, caused by tear smoke. The antidote, on skin and eyes, is flushing with cold water. Our public health professional did not say what similar and relatively harmless riot deterrent he would like to see employed by police. The fact is there is nothing else with a similar deterrent effect.

Headlines in local and English language Sunday (22 December) papers ‘Police reputation lies in tatters’ on account of a telephone poll of 832 persons taken over four days at the end of November, beginning of December. 81% of that number voted for the pro-democracy camp in the District Council elections so, not surprisingly, most of them (71%) were of the opinion that police action had been harsh and excessive and a number went further, saying the police force should be disbanded and an unarmed civilian guard force take over their duties! Let anarchy reign! On page three the headline reads “Nearly a fifth of voters say they support violent tactics” (against police) implying that there is wide public support for the demonstrators. In our month in Hong Kong Susanna and I have chatted with at least a hundred folk ranging from hawkers to businessmen, from teenagers to retirees and only one, a retired hospital matron and a very good friend of ours, has said that she thinks the police have used unreasonable force against innocent demonstrators.

Another interesting article in the papers is a report of “Doxxing a threat to society that must be stopped”. The embattled CE of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, has, herself, been the victim of doxxing whereby her personal information, and that of her family, has been hacked and posted on-line for all to see. Doxxing has been prevalent since the riots became violent, initially against Government officials but then quickly victimising police officers of all ranks. Hackers have been able to trawl information on the lower ranks of police officers; inspectors down to constables; publishing information on the names, ages and even the schools attended by the children of police officers. Their wives, brothers and sisters have also been victimised in this manner. For the school children it is particularly nasty as some of been bullied. And there has been one report where a head teacher has advised his staff to turn a blind eye if a child of a police officers is being teased or bullied. This for fear that the demonstrators will attack the school. In that case the education department took swift, corrective action.