Can we please stop the pretence now? Yes, it makes us all feel nice inside to say this is a peaceful democracy movement. But it is not. It never was. We just did not want to admit it. Occupy Central was peaceful only on paper. The script called for people to sit on streets and be arrested without resistance. But that script was shredded when students scaled the security fence of government headquarters in Admiralty on September 26.
When thousands surged to demand their release, would the police have used pepper spray just for fun? Would they have fired tear gas subsequently for the hell of it? Yes, these are politically incorrect questions that we are not supposed to ask because the police are the bad guys who beat peaceful protesters brutally. But they need to be asked if we want to be honest with ourselves as a society.
Mahatma Gandhi wore a dhoti and sandals on his month-long march to the sea in civil disobedience against the British salt tax. He never even threw a grain of sand at his British oppressors. On Sunday night, our peaceful civil disobedience protesters wore hard hats and goggles to Admiralty, carrying makeshift shields, some spiked with nails. They charged police lines with metal barriers. They hurled soft drink cans, water bottles and eggs, and even sprayed the police with fire extinguishers. When the police used pepper spray and baton-charged them, they yelled police brutality. What did they expect the police to do - allow themselves to be stampeded over by a mob intent on storming government headquarters?
Participants in Sunday night's mob have no moral right to say they draw inspiration from Gandhi for their civil disobedience movement. Gandhi would have been ashamed of them. It is fake peaceful disobedience when protesters don hard hats and carry spiked shields. It is a phoney argument to say they are only protecting themselves from police brutality. Does anyone honestly believe the police would baton-charge peaceful protesters? Half a million marched in the July 2003 anti-government protest. Such marches are held yearly. Have the police ever used pepper spray and batons before? We can keep kidding ourselves by saying this is a democracy movement of love and peace because it makes us feel good, or we can dare to question the truth of that. Choose what you believe will make you sleep better at night.