Letters | What separates US Capitol police from Hong Kong officers

I refer to “US wakes up to the dangers of anti-government violence but in Hong Kong it’s a different story” (January 12). Many commentators have closely compared the storming of Capitol Hill in the US and of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in 2019. However, one significant aspect has been overlooked.

An immediate fallout of the Capital riot was the resignation of the homeland security chief and the Capitol’s three top security officials from their posts over failures that allowed the dramatic breach. Public investigations are under way and already there have been police suspensions.

It has been a very different story with the Hong Kong police. At Legco, our officers seemed to just withdraw as there was no serious attempt to control the young protesters either outside or inside the building. This could not have been down to lack of manpower, as we have seen in recent days 1,000 officers were summoned to arrest the pan-democrats who had engaged in primary elections.

The many reputable community voices that requested a commission of inquiry be convened to look into the reasons for and the response to the protests have been rebuffed and then completely ignored.