Don’t make police the enemy in wake of protests

Widespread criticisms levelled at the Hong Kong police are mostly disingenuous and one-sided. If officers had broken up peaceful crowds such as those hundreds of thousands who marched in dignity and order on two Sundays, or attacked those well-behaved protesters who cleaned up roads after their rallies, they should be called to account and punished. But that wasn’t the case.

What triggered the controversial police response a week ago were groups of individuals who dressed like ninjas and came prepared to confront the police. They tried to breach police lines and storm the Legislative Council complex.

Most wore masks, helmets and goggles. An indeterminate number used steel bars, pavement bricks, rubbish bins, metal fences and any hard objects they could find to fight officers. Police subsequently discovered more weapons including box cutters, razor blades and scissors.

Yet, many in the opposition called them “peaceful” protesters. On the other hand, they charged that anti-riot police, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, were guilty of brutality and use of excessive force.

Could police have reacted excessively? Possibly in some cases, just like some protesters might have committed violent criminal acts. Yet, the opposition has insisted that only one side, the police, was in the wrong. During Sunday’s march, they demanded the unconditional release of all those arrested in last week’s confrontations, and insisted that no protesters were rioters or had committed riotous acts.

In interviews, blogs, newspaper articles and online posts, they have compared police to Nazi storm troopers, the Gestapo, and East German border guards shooting and killing people trying to escape over the Berlin Wall. Such comparisons are absurd and unfair.

In an act of cyberwarfare, the personal data of dozens of police officers, including those of their family members, have been made public and subjected to ridicule and threats.