Condemning protest violence in Hong Kong won’t solve the problem – not when police are part of the problem
- No sensible person could condone the violence perpetrated by protesters. However, condemning the violence will not help when the police force, executing the repressive policy of a recalcitrant government, is not held to account
Having practised criminal law in Hong Kong for 40 years and defended individuals accused of a catalogue of crimes, ranging from massive fraud to the most heinous crimes of violence, I could lavishly chronicle the trials and tribulations of being a criminal barrister.
Very often, these young people are inflicted with serious injuries in the process of arrest and thereafter. It would be hard to find any decent, sensible and law-abiding individual who champions these young people simply because he or she supports criminal acts and the flouting of the law.
But many, including large sections of the local public and numerous members of the international community, do sympathise with these young people who are prepared to forgo their own liberty, safety and even their lives to give voice to a cause supported by many to change the injustices of the current establishment, which refuses point-blank to listen and to give way.
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Violence cannot and must not be condoned, and no decent and sensible person I know condones the vandalism and violence perpetrated by those involved in the protests. Mere condemnation, however, does not help. It does not deal with the root of the problem, which lies in large part with those in government.
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No one underestimates the difficulty of the police’s job in these circumstances, but neither reason nor restraint is being shown. The standards and procedures we have taken pride in and taken for granted for so long seem to have vanished. The professionalism of the police force is also being questioned.
In such a climate, the Bar Association, of which I am a council member, has in my view rightly identified the relevant legal issues and spoken out about them.
It is not shameful to hold those armed with power, public authority and weaponry to account. Nor is pointing out that the problem is an intractable executive. This is what the Bar Association should do in defending the rule of law.
Lawrence Lok is a criminal barrister called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1978, and called to the Hong Kong Bar in 1979. He has been practising criminal law at all levels of court ever since. He has also served as a recorder of High Court, and currently serves as a member of the Bar Council