Police and protesters need to make peace, to end the insanity of Hongkongers fighting Hongkongers

From the maligned shotgun-wielding sergeant to descriptions of vandalism as violence, Western media exaggerations play directly into Beijing’s hands
Continuing the violence will only erode global support for the protesters’ cause. Peaceful protests are the only way forward in a deeply divided Hong Kong

Robert Boxwell

Published: 7:00am, 29 Sep 2019

Why you can trust SCMP

Remember the shotgun-waving police officer outside Kwai Chung police station, the one whose photo was all over global media with sensational headlines like, “Hong Kong police officer makes a grave safety error waving a shotgun in protesters’ faces”? This was supposed to be evidence that Hong Kong’s police were using excessive force. It was not.

The full story is only now coming out. For whatever reason, videos from BBC, NBC and others pick up the action at around the time the police officer, Lau Chak-kei, begins pointing his shotgun. What they do not show, but which was captured in a 30-second grainy video posted on social media, was Lau and another police officer defending themselves after being attacked by about a dozen men.

Piecing together a timeline from photos and videos of the incident, Lau’s restraint and professionalism seem nothing short of extraordinary.

About 20 seconds before the shotgun-pointing photos were taken, another photo shows Lau at the instant he was attacked from behind by at least four men, their faces obscured by identical light-blue surgical masks. The men do not exactly look like idealistic students. Lau’s helmet was on. One colleague, wearing a light-blue shirt under his riot gear, is coming to his assistance.

In the video of the fight, his white shirt stands out in the maelstrom of violence. Both police officers were fighting for their lives. Each time Lau goes down, into the maw of men beating, kicking and throwing things at him, he fights back to his feet. At least one of his attackers had a metal bar.

After his second fall, the violence of which spins him around 180 degrees, his helmet is ripped off. One or more men tries to grab his shotgun. He wrenches it back. As he stands, four men, directly to his right and behind him, step forward and hurl things at him and his partner. It is only at this moment that he lifts his gun, for the first time, and points it at one of them. All four flee. Only then does he slide back the forend – the “pump” – below the barrel to load it.

His gun levelled in self-defence, he turns a full circle, necessary to ensure no attacker is near enough to resume the assault. He then lowers his gun.

Lasers light up his face. He looks down momentarily to protect his eyes. When he looks up, a man is right in front of him. He lifts his gun again instinctively, then sees a photographer’s neon-yellow vest and knows the man poses no threat. He lowers it. He walks away without raising it again.

Hong Kong police show they are still Asia’s finest

Most of the world did not see this police officer. Most saw a fierce-looking officer with a shaved head and determined eyes, wearing black-and-steel body armour, pointing a shotgun menacingly at unseen people, instead of the family man he is, with so much to live for.

This is what the 24-hour news cycle can do to facts. Protesters marching peacefully attract clicks. Blazing plastic road barriers piled in the middle of Hennessy Road attract more. But a police officer waving a shotgun? That is click jackpot.

But that is not what I want to talk about.

Lau is a hero for doing his job, for having the fight to get back to his feet, twice, while being mauled by thugs. If one of his attackers had ended up with his gun, any number of things could have happened – all bad – and a line that so many pray Hong Kong’s protests will not cross would have been crossed. One can only imagine Beijing’s reaction to photos of a thug pointing the shotgun instead of Lau.

Part of the reason that the violence seems so bad is because Hong Kong seldom experiences violence. But – and this is not to condone it – most of the protester “violence” in Hong Kong is called “vandalism” in other places. There has been real violence, to be sure, but Western media exaggerations play directly into Beijing’s hands.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s protesters must rein in all of the violence. Millions of free people worldwide support their cause – I am one of them. But the odds of winning through violence are zero. And continuing it erodes their global support. The slogan, “It was you who taught me that peaceful marches are useless” was inspiring, but its time has passed.

Hong Kong protesters need their own Martin Luther King

Hong Kong’s leaderless protests need someone to step forward and make peace with the police. Protesters and police have a lot more in common than Beijing and the police. They speak the same language. They live in the same neighbourhoods. Their children go to the same schools.

Outside Sogo in Causeway Bay on Saturday night, August 31, I was shocked to see the bitter abuse pouring from Hongkongers – even non-protesters – at police. I understand how it started. But it is hard to look at the weary police officers and not believe they would rather be doing anything but battling fellow Hongkongers.

Any population can have bad actors. The protesters must curb their tiny violent minority. The police must root out officers who use excessive force. Millions of Hongkongers, who ask nothing more than that Beijing honour its “one country, two systems” promise, have the support of democracies everywhere today. Peaceful protests will nourish this support and the pressure from democratic governments it can bring to bear on Beijing.

Hongkongers fighting Hongkongers is insane. Peaceful protests are the only way to win. It is time to get back to them.

Robert Boxwell is director of the consultancy Opera Advisors

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