Riots in our city: Mostly same people over and over again; why have they not been arrested?

Dear Sir,

We’ve just been through the 16th week of riots and still no end in sight!

Our view from afar, through the eyes of the press mostly, is one of wholesale public unrest where the Hong Kong Police don’t appear to be effective at quelling the riots, never mind preventing them in the first place. And we wonder why it is that the leaders of a comparatively small but disciplined and well equipped force of demonstrators, mostly the same people over and over again, have not been neutralised by the police, arrested and charged.

But we also wonder why it is that the HK Government seem to be wholly ineffective in addressing the leaders of the demonstrators, trying to come to terms with them, trying to put at least a temporary truce into effect while talks are held.

We know from press reports that the effects of these disturbances are being felt through every strata of Hong Kong society now. We have read stories of an economic melt down as retail businesses beg for reductions in rental, with some going to the wall. We’ve heard of hotels offering unbelievably low tariffs as tourism dries up. And some of us, corresponding with relatives in Hong Kong, are learning of deep-seated worry about the future of Hong Kong as a viable place to do business and to live a family life in. And then there are persistent rumours that, in the event of continuing violence on the streets of Hong Kong, the PLA garrison could well be mobilised, limited to protection of key places like the airport or, in a worst case scenario, used to support or even take over from the HK Police in riot control. I don’t believe the Chinese Government will take any action that could spell the end of the one-country-two-systems-for-50 -years agreement. They are pragmatic and do not want a huge welfare problem on their hands as money and people flee the territory.

One thing seems to be certain and that is that the Hong Kong of pre-2015, when I retired from the HKP, is irrevocably changed and not for the better. Where there was commercial confidence there is uncertainty, where there was trust in the Government there is distrust, where there was admiration for the HK disciplined services, particularly the police, there is suspicion. And where freedom of speech and movement was taken for granted, it is no longer.

Stuart McDouall
Cheshire, England