Six months of protesting was marked yesterday by a huge, peaceful march that appeared as portentously large as the 9 June event that kicked it all off. The police said 183,000 demonstrated; the organisers said 800,000. The BUZZ team member who walked among the young protesters said it looked like the organisers’ estimate was nearer the truth. Hennessey Road was thronged from side to side. The crowds spilled over into parallel roads. The youngsters were peaceful, determined; no aggression was evident. Mass movement of people, chanting, created a din that echoed around Causeway Bay and Wanchai. Loudspeakers stationed on the footpaths played stirring music synchronised with the chanting. As dusk fell the crowds turned on their mobile lights and a silvery white carpet flowed towards police headquarters and the central government offices. One bystander commented, “This doesn’t look like a protest. It looks like a revolution.”
It is lamentable to have to note that the police looked thuggish, even when there was no need for this. Inside and outside MTR stations and on street corners, groups of officers stood around in riot gear with rifles, shields and gas masks. Earlier in the afternoon they left their helmets off. Good. Less threatening. But many of them wore masks. Thin black cotton masks covering the lower face over the nose to just below the eyes. This made them look thuggish, although the area was peaceful. The new police commissioner Chris Tang has spoken of “soft and harsh tactics”. Yesterday it was obvious Commissioner Tang is not ordering enough of the soft tactics. There wasn’t a blue police uniform in sight. If the police want to reach out, calm the city, restore some of the people’s faith in them, they should have marched in blue uniforms and soft caps alongside the protesters protecting them. It was after all an authorised demonstration.
Questionable, too, is the lack of identification worn by the officers. There were no shoulder number tags on the riot uniforms. And about half of the officers wore black cloth masks. The BUZZ team member asked one young officer why he was wearing no identification. Politely, he pointed to his chest where there was a blue square with the letters PTU and other letters and numbers identifying presumably the Police Tactical Unit squad he belonged to. Is this satisfactory? Some would wonder. The police should be seen to be accountable under the law.
There were no female police in sight. This is surprising, because women officers should manhandle female demonstrators, when necessary.
Business people watch, despairingly. Many fear for their companies very survival, especially those in the battered retail sector. They had hoped that after six months the protests would dwindle and fade away. Yesterday shattered those hopes. There is nowhere to go: Beijing and the Carrie Lam mal-administration are intransigent. The demonstrators won’t give up. Invasion by the People’s Armed Police to squash the troubles is unthinkable. The city is trapped. It staggers on, fearfully.
“Opinions expressed in by-lined Editorial may not necessarily reflect those of Hong Kong BUZZ”
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