Opinion | Violence blew the lid off Hong Kong’s simmering discontent. It’s about time

While peaceful mass protests went nowhere, violent unrest got Beijing to acknowledge the problem of unaffordable housing in the city, forced some concessions from Carrie Lam, and spurred overdue soul-searching

But, when the protests ebb, will Beijing further tighten its grip on the city?

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A fire burns on September 8 at one of the entrances to Central MTR station, in the business and financial heart of Hong Kong, during yet another weekend of violent protests. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 9:15am, 19 Sep 2019Updated: 9:39am, 19 Sep 2019

Who says violent protests don’t work? They do and have done so in ways unimaginable before the petrol bombs flew. Without violence, would Chinese state media have empathised with Hong Kong’s young protesters by blaming unaffordable housing as the root cause of the unrest?

State media had at first accused foreign forces and independence advocates for the uprising. But, with the violence escalating, they’re now blaming Hong Kong’s property tycoons.

Aren’t these the same tycoons who long cosied up to Beijing in return for business opportunities? Didn’t they just recently obey Beijing’s orders to place newspaper advertisements to condemn violent protests and support Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor?

Didn’t former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa explicitly accuse the United States and Taiwan of orchestrating the unrest? So why is the state media suddenly heaping blame on the tycoons, accusing them of greed, hoarding land and sucking every cent out of young aspiring homeowners?

It just goes to show that bowing to Beijing doesn’t mean you are accepted as a true loyalist. A Reuters report even quoted an unidentified mainland source as saying the Hong Kong elites were not one of them.