Public Eye | Time for instigators of Occupy to face the music

Political persecution or justice being seen to be done? This is what Hongkongers will be asking as the authorities start arresting chief instigators of the Occupy Central movement. Police have contacted dozens so far, including legislators, academics, student leaders and a media tycoon. Many will face far more serious accusations than just illegal assembly. Already, there is predictable talk that charging them with instigating and aiding an unlawful assembly amounts to white terror. But is charging the Occupy instigators with more than just illegal assembly political persecution, or are the police simply doing their job? We shall leave that to the courts. But we'll say this: what society would let citizens break the law and then choose the crime they want to be charged with?

What are we fighting for - democracy or anarchy? No, Public Eye is not being flippant. There is nothing flippant about the chief executive cancelling his yearly meet-the-people sessions for fear he would be shouted down in the name of democracy. Those who deny others their say are not champions of democracy; they are frauds. No matter how much some people loathe Leung Chun-ying, he is still the man who must make policy decisions for all Hongkongers. Nothing beats town-hall-style meetings before such decisions are made. But it is a virtual certainty that phoney democrats will drown him out and provoke scuffles with the police in the aftermath of the Occupy protests. That is why the government has cancelled his meet-the-people sessions. Those who use triad tactics to shut up political opponents are an insult to democracy. Our advice to Leung is this: do not be a coward. Go out and face them. Expose them for what they are.