How does one begin to untangle the bizarre from the faintly ridiculous in the two letters from Ruth Lee and the instigator of her response Jim Marett (South China Morning Post, May 27, May 21)? Mr Marett's only reference to Chinese people in the aftermath of Tiananmen was to call them a 'street rabble . . . Hong Kong streets filled with protesting citizens . . . all of whom funded and manipulated by self-interested parties'.
They were no rabble. It is also inconceivable that these protesters were paid or funded. By whom, all within a day of the massacre? What does sound interesting is Ms Lee's suggestion that firing live ammunition at your fellow citizens is a mistake that is correct. However for some reason 'we cannot expect an apology or an admission . . . that a mistake had been made'. Why not? So herein lies the bizarre logic of our correspondents. Cease protest and the military will be nice to the citizenry and fire only blank ammunition when ordered to do so. I think not.
BRIAN VICKERS Chai Wan
