Editorial | Police and councillors should hold their fire

Sharp exchanges between opposition politicians and the police at the district councils has become common in the wake of the deep divide arising from last year’s social unrest.

The war of words has regrettably escalated after a session with Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Pang-keung was abruptly taken off the agenda of the Kowloon City District Council meeting last Thursday.

In what was seen as a show of discontent, the agenda for the police chief to address the council was dropped at the last minute as demanded in a joint letter signed by 14 opposition members.

Describing it as a “hypocritical political show”, they said the police often just repeated the official government line. Tang fired back by questioning whether the opposition was afraid of hearing the truth.

“Perhaps members fear people actually find them low class, hypocritical and dishonest instead,” he said.