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Letters | The last thing Hong Kong needs right now is Article 23 national security mayhem
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Why you can trust SCMP
Andrew Leung’s recent policy recommendations are almost indistinguishable from satire (“To negotiate for universal suffrage, Hong Kong must enact Article 23”, October 24). In particular, he proposes that this is the perfect time to enact “national security” laws in Hong Kong. Does the scale of the current protest movement fail to demonstrate the anxiety people feel about Beijing slowly tightening the noose around Hong Kong’s neck?
I cannot imagine the chaos that would result from tabling a proposal specifically to impose criminal penalties for disloyalty to the communist overlords against whom millions are currently protesting. There would be more than just a few bank branches in flames, for sure.
Frank Trampe, Missouri
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Excuses for protester violence present logic of terror
More and more we see the “you-made-me-do-it” argument deployed to excuse the violence on our streets: “it’s you who taught me peaceful protest is useless” (“Simply condemning the protest violence won’t solve the problem”, October 16; “Hong Kong ‘mobs’ are the product of peaceful protests ignored”, October 21).
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It’s also the rationale of terrorists around the world.
This is a dangerous trend. Taken to extremes, it means that at any time any group, fighting for any cause, can resort to violence if they don’t get 100 per cent of what they demand “and not 1 [per cent] less”.
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