As Hong Kong enters its sixth month of anti-government, pro-democracy protests, violence has become a hallmark of daily life. Though protesters have been hailed across the world as freedom fighters, the attacks perpetrated by radical elements have become increasingly horrific and barbaric.
For the movement to retain its moral legitimacy and international support, it will need to condemn unambiguously the heinous acts committed by hardcore protesters. Thus far, that has not happened. Instead, young people on the front lines of the violence have turned their universities into war zones with the police.
Protesters have justified their resort to violence by blaming the police for the excessive use of force, their own government for being a stooge of Beijing, and the Chinese Communist Party for encroaching on the city’s civil liberties and failing to abide by commitments made to govern Hong Kong under the rubric of “one country, two systems.”
Their grievances are legitimate and resonate with broad swaths of the Hong Kong population. After all, their chants of, “Revive Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time,” have offered inspiration to the world.
Yet hardcore elements of the leaderless pro-democracy movement have not only engaged in widespread arson, vandalism, road blockades, hand-to-hand combat with the police, and destruction of public and private property deemed to be pro-government or pro-Beijing. They have also perpetrated ever more gruesome violence against individuals whose views they do not like.
On Monday, protesters beat a father of two who chased them down for vandalizing a metro station. In an expletive-filled exchange about patriotism after the beating, the man accused the protesters of not being Chinese. The protesters responded that they were Hongkongers. Then they doused him with gasoline and set him on fire. As he screamed from being burnt alive, the protesters ran away.
Last week, a pro-Beijing legislator was stabbed while campaigning for reelection in Hong Kong. The perpetrator pretended to be a supporter and requested a selfie with the politician before pulling out a sharp object.
Two weekends ago, a man was brutally beaten by a group of masked anti-Beijing protesters. As the kicks and punches rained down, some of the attackers derided him as a socialist from mainland China. As the victim laid on the ground bloodied and unconsciousness, some protesters stripped him of his pants and underwear, poured water on his naked body, and kicked him a few more times.
In early October, a J.P. Morgan employee who hailed from mainland China was beaten at the bank’s entrance in Hong Kong because he said to a group of protesters in Mandarin, the national language of China, “We are all Chinese.” A veiled protester in black immediately rushed to punch him while muttering, “F— your mother!” in Cantonese, the native dialect of Hong Kong. The crowd began chanting, “Go back to mainland China! Go back to mainland China!” Among the chants were smattering of shouts of, “F— your mother!”
The behavior in these incidents, and in numerous other attacks on individuals who disagree with the protesters, have been vile and inhumane.
In August, when protesters took over the Hong Kong airport, disrupted visitors’ travel plans, and beat up two men from mainland China, they apologized subsequently for their actions. Noting that they were scared and desperate, they promised to do better.
Such apologies are no longer forthcoming. Violent confrontations with the police and fellow Hong Kong residents who disagree have become the norm.
A pro-democracy student activist, Joey Siu, explained why her movement has been reluctant to denounce these actions publicly.
“One of the principals among the protesters is about no splitting and no condemning any of our protesters, even though the level of violence they use seems to be … escalating,” she said in an interview with British television.
Certainly, the protesters are no match for the police’s weapons and lethal power. The residents of Hong Kong overwhelmingly agree with the protesters about police brutality. Nearly 70% of them believe that the police have not acted with discipline and have been arresting protesters indiscriminately.
Hongkongers are also outraged at the tragic results of police actions. On the same day that the middle-aged man was set on fire, a police officer shot a protester in the stomach with a live round. Last week, a student protester fell from a parking garage while fleeing from the police and ultimately died from his injuries.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents widely view their government as inept at handling the current crisis and believe it has proffered no viable political solution while hiding behind ever more brutal police tactics. Not surprisingly, the approval rating of the city’s chief executive has dipped to a record low of 22%.
But moral equivalence is no way to fight for freedom and democracy. Violence is only making it easier for Beijing and the Hong Kong government to paint the protesters as terrorists and rioters.
The British, Hong Kong’s former colonizers, know the city better than most foreign governments and have offered some moral clarity to the situation. “Protestors must end the violence,” declared the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab late last month. “While the overwhelming majority of protestors have been lawful and peaceful … the violence of a hard-core minority cannot be condoned.”
Siu, the student activist, acknowledged to British television that “peaceful means will be the only way out for us to resolve the current situation in Hong Kong.”
That sounds almost quaint now, after days of intense violence in the city. Young protesters have dug in at various campuses, turning them into fortresses to do battle with the police. Fires, explosions, brick throwing, road closures, petrol bomb-making, and bows and arrows have all been part of their repertoire.
There is now no end in sight to the violence. More than five months of unrest have left Hong Kong in a recession, its first since the global financial crisis. Should a political solution not be found, it is ultimately the city, and its 7.4 million residents, that will pay the price.
That would be a very sad result of the revolution of our time.
Ying Ma is the author of Chinese Girl in the Ghetto.
