“It would not be killing Hongkongers. It would be killing rioters ...” Hong Kong police should have shot rioters if necessary, says outspoken lawyer

Police should have used tear gas and if necessary shot protesters during the Mong Kok riot, says outspoken lawyer and district councillor Junius Ho Kwan-yiu.

Speaking on RTHK’s televised City Forum debate on the incident, Ho said law enforcement officers were “too restrained” when faced with street mobs.

“Police used shotguns [during the 1967 riot] ... To maintain public order and for self-protection, [police officers] have to take any necessary actions” Ho said.

When asked by another participant of the debate, Oscar Lai Man-lok of student group Scholarism, whether Ho believed police would have been justified in killing city residents, Ho replied: “It would not be killing Hongkongers. It would be killing rioters.”

Ho, a controversial figure, also said it was necessary to implement Article 23 anti-subversion laws in the city.

During the forum, lawmaker Starry Lee Wai-king of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, compared the violence to a cancer she said society needed to get rid of before it spread.

On the opposing end of the debate, Baggio Leung Chung-hang, convenor of post-Occupy group Youngspiration, blamed police mishandling of the situation for causing the violence.

Lai pointed the finger at the Hong Kong government’s refusal to listen to residents and to resolve an array of livelihood issues as the source of the unrest.