Letters | Who are violent Hong Kong protesters really hurting? It’s not China

Protesters won’t get what they want with unrelenting violence, and a forceful crackdown is not helping either. It is time for both sides to de-escalate

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Few customers at a restaurant in Kowloon Tong. Months of protests and a slowing economy have left key Hong Kong businesses in the food and beverage, tourism and retail sectors struggling. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:25am, 8 Nov 2019Updated: 7:25am, 8 Nov 2019

It is regrettable that the protests in Hong Kong have degenerated into an orgy of violence. Both camps should de-escalate.

The government has already made a major move forward by officially withdrawing the unpopular extradition bill and setting up a dialogue platform. However, it is unfortunate that it took the government three months to complete the process – a lot of harm could have been avoided if it had acted more swiftly and the government was run by capable people with leadership skills, instead of being headed by a former civil servant.

There are also strong signals that a panel of inquiry into police brutality will be set up, despite the strong countervailing pressure from the police force. For its part, the opposition should recognise that some of their demands (for instance, general amnesty) are simply unrealistic.

They should also set aside their utopian hopes for a Swiss-like democracy. That will never happen unless China collapses like the Soviet Union, which is highly unlikely. The universal suffrage proposal offered in 2015 was imperfect but it was a good starting point.

Even in the European Union, democracy is far from perfect. EU citizens such as myself had no say whatsoever in the election of the EU commission chief or the president of the union. These choices were made behind closed doors by the likes of Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.