Just Saying | Hong Kong’s crisis of confidence in the rule of law and law enforcement
Yonden Lhatoo warns that the pillars on which the city was built have been shaken by two highly contentious court cases involving police and graft busters
Hong Kong, we have a problem. And it’s a serious one that threatens the very foundations of our city.
Watch: More than 30,000 gather in support of police officers jailed for beating up protester
This time, the catalyst is the jailing of seven officers who punched, kicked and stomped on a hog-tied activist in a dark corner of Tamar Park at the height of the Occupy protests of 2014. The assault, captured by television cameras, sparked outrage in a city where men in blue are usually expected to be perennial pacifists.
Independent judicial process deserves the utmost respect
Look up videos depicting police brutality in far more advanced democracies and this particular incident could be a walk in the park by comparison, but we hold our police force to higher standards, and those seven officers deserve to go to jail for what they did.
We hold our police force to higher standards, and those seven officers deserve to go to jail for what they did
But understand where their supporters are coming from. More than two years after thousands of protesters blocked roads and broke multiple laws for 79 straight days in the name of democracy, this is the net result of justice so far: seven police officers behind bars and slaps on the wrist for everyone else. Not one of the leaders of the movement has been punished.
Throughout the Occupy protests, frontline police officers were not only forced to stand by and watch people break the law with impunity, but also expected to protect the lawbreakers from irate members of the public whose livelihoods were affected by the road closures. Nobody was sure what was right or wrong any more.
Another ugly fallout from the jailing of the “magnificent seven” – as some have dubbed them – is the backlash against the judiciary.