Opinion | Occupy protests leave Hong Kong directionless, divided and further from its democracy goal than ever

Where is the Hong Kong as we knew it three weeks ago? It's gone forever, swallowed up by a force we unleashed on ourselves which we can't control. The only way we can go back to the way things were is for us to wipe out all memory of Occupy Central. But such wholesale brainwashing only happens in science-fiction films.

What we saw over the past three weeks was no film. It was all too real - the acrid smell of tear gas, the sting of pepper spray, the astonishing images of thousands of democracy activists unfolding umbrellas in a defiant rallying cry, muscular masked men confronting the student-led occupation of key districts, police allegedly beating up a handcuffed protester. How can we pretend none of it happened?

We are now a Hong Kong with a changed DNA. We are angry, vengeful, directionless and divided. We have stoked the anger of our masters. They are not used to having their authority challenged. We have made enemies of our police force. The people and the police are supposed to be on the same side, but mutual trust has vanished.

We started a dangerous game, which we don't know how to end. Worse still, some are even raising the stakes for self-interest. What purpose - other than fuelling hatred - does it serve for politicians to repeatedly make unsubstantiated claims that the police are in cahoots with triads to suppress peaceful protesters?

Who does it help, other than grandstanding politicians, to demonise the entire police force for the alleged acts of a few, who released weeks of pent-up frustration by kicking a handcuffed protester? What do politicians hope to gain by describing the incident as torture? Do they really want to risk a police mutiny by branding them all as thugs?

Don't we always take pride in our rule of law? Why, then, are politicians demanding blood before due process, by insisting on immediate punishment and dismissal of the officers allegedly involved, based on TV footage? Is fomenting hatred within society how they want to win elections?