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Letters | Hong Kong protests: police using excessive force as violence begets violence
- In America police firing live rounds at protesters is an extreme rarity, and typically reserved for armed demonstrators
- Only one of the protesters shot by Hong Kong police was armed – but not with a gun
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I am writing in response to Mr Michael Li’s letter of November 7 (“Hong Kong police: remarkably restrained or masked thugs?”) wherein he pointed out that so long as the violence and vandalism by “mobs” never stop, peace can never be restored, and that there would have been more casualties had what occurred on our streets happened in the streets of New York or the UK.
Let me start by restating that it was the excessive force from police in the first place that sparked the more serious protests, and that the “mobs” can be, and have been, held criminally liable, while not one police officer has been arrested for their blatant disregard of legal constraints to their powers.
Regrettably, there are still citizens such as Mr Li who choose to ignore the fact that police have shown no restraint in their actions. Aiming riot guns at reporters and striking already restrained protesters repeatedly in the head with their batons are just some examples.
Not only are some people blithely unaware that police have abused their power, they have also been ignorant of the imbalance in the violence.
It cannot be disputed that the violence met with and used by police have been highly disproportionate, with the event early on November 11 as a case in point. A police officer in Sai Wan Ho chose to fire three live rounds when faced with two unarmed teenagers who only intended to rescue a companion.
That “more serious consequences” would have come if certain events had taken place in the streets of certain Western countries has been a popular argument among pro-government citizens as of late.
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