Opinion

George Floyd protests: lessons for Hong Kong on tackling police brutality and protester violence

Name: Carrie Lam accuses protest-plagued US of ‘double standards’ over national security
Uploaded: 2020-06-06T12:00:17.000Z
Duration: 2 min 38 s
Description: Carrie Lam accuses protest-plagued US of ‘double standards’ over national security

The events in the US highlight the terrible consequences of insufficient checks and balances on police power

Using brute force only sows greater discontent, radicalisation and long-term instability. Addressing the causes of violence is harder but more effective

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A police officer raises his baton to strike a protester who was among those attempting to escape the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus in Hung Hom on November 18, 2019. Protesters and police clashed near the university, ending up in a nearly two-week siege of the campus. Photo: AFP

Brian Y. S. Wong

Brian Wong is an assistant professor in philosophy at the University of Hong Kong, and a Rhodes Scholar and adviser on strategy for the Oxford Global Society.

Published: 8:00pm, 6 Jun 2020Updated: 9:36pm, 6 Jun 2020

The senseless killing of George Floyd is a stark reminder that American society is not blind to race and that racial identity can be a death sentence.

Floyd’s death also sheds light on the endemic, detrimental effects of an unchecked police force, and how the lack of checks and balances can transform officers into killing machines.

In Hong Kong, some lawmakers and politicians gleefully deride the United States for its alleged hypocrisy for claiming to stand with protesters here, while coming down hard on demonstrators at home.

Meanwhile, fringes of the Hong Kong protest movement attempt to deflect criticism of US President Donald Trump as part of their wider strategy of courting American support – perhaps neglecting the very causes and principles they are campaigning for.

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Carrie Lam accuses protest-plagued US of ‘double standards’ over national security

Amid the broader politicisation of Floyd’s death, here are the lessons for Hong Kong.