Public Eye | Please, no more buts in justifying Hong Kong’s Mong Kok riot

Public Eye is going to throw up the next time anyone condemns the Mong Kok riots then uses the word “but” to exonerate the rioting thugs. We’ve had enough of so-called democrats saying they oppose violence but the brick-hurling mob had no choice after peaceful protests to voice social grievances got them nowhere. This is how it goes: “Violent protests are unacceptable but Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is to blame.

Only cowards without morals and political courage would blur the line between right and wrong. Public Eye nearly hurled a teacup at the TV screen when we saw legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan shifting blame away from the rioters within hours of the rampage. How do these self-proclaimed champions of democracy and human rights live with their conscience? What about the human rights of the policeman who was nearly bludgeoned to death?

Hate Leung all you want. Hong Kong’s free society gives you that right. That doesn’t mean we should use hatred of Leung to justify violence. Politicians and academics who do that only encourage the low-lifes who didn’t even have the guts to show their faces when they hurled bricks, set fires and smashed windows while wearing face masks.

These same people applauded students who stormed University of Hong Kong council meetings. They mocked council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung for saying the students behaved like a drugged mob. Now they want to divert attention away from the violence by demanding an inquiry into their claim that failed governance turned youths into rioters. Do these people not understand they’re destroying Hong Kong when they let their blind hatred of Leung blind their eyes to rioting mobs?

Public Eye sniggered when we heard the Facebook “final message” of Ray Wong Toi-yeung, convenor of the localist group Hong Kong Indigenous, which spearheaded the riots. He said it was better to die with honour than survive in disgrace. We suspect this 22-year-old has watched The Hunger Games too often. Die with honour? Who’s coming to kill you? Certainly not the overly restrained policemen who ended up in hospital. Survive in disgrace? You’re not an oppressed kid forced to fight to the death for Leung’s entertainment, much as you would like to romanticise as such.

Public Eye took no issue with Hong Kong Indigenous when it opposed parallel goods traders and mainland day-trippers who made life hell for border town residents. There’s a huge difference, though, between that and rioting. Many no longer fear breaking the law. Why should they? It’s been over a year since the Occupy protests ended yet not a single one of the big names who voluntarily surrendered has been charged. So go on, riot some more. Justify the violence. Beijing will thank you for giving it a reason to clench its fist.