Shooting of Hong Kong schoolboy Tsang Chi-kin ‘totally legal and appropriate’, Chinese state media says
- At the time of the incident in Tsuen Wan, the life of the police officer ‘was under serious threat and he was forced to shoot’, Xinhua says in commentary
- The ‘black terror’ that has gripped the city for the past three months ‘is close to craziness’, article says
China’s state media has defended the shooting of a Hong Kong schoolboy by a police officer on Tuesday as “totally legal and appropriate”, once again blaming the protests in the city on unidentified “manipulators”.
Critics said the police officer who fired the shot acted on a misjudgment and should have tried to de-escalate the situation rather than use potentially lethal force. The city’s police authority defended the officer, saying he believed his life was in danger.
“Rioters attacked police officers on a great scale at Tsuen Wan,” Xinhua said in a commentary early Wednesday morning. “The life of the officer at the scene was under serious threat and he was forced to shoot at the assailant to protect his own life as well as his colleagues.”
“[His] action was totally legal, legitimate and appropriate,” it said.
“The ‘black terror’ that has lasted for more than three months is close to craziness,” it said. “To stop the violence and curb disorder, we must make prominent the power of the rule of law, cut out the tumour of violence and prosecute all rioters in accordance with the law as soon as possible.”
It also called on the public, especially young people, “not to be used” by “manipulators” inciting them to take to the streets and break the law.
It did not identify any of the so-called manipulators.
“Black-clad people are the greatest terrorist threat to Hong Kong,” the piece said, repeating allegations that the protests’ leaders opposed China and were trying to seize control of the city.
Speaking at about midnight, before the publication of the commentary, Hong Kong police chief Stephen Lo said officers fired a total of six live rounds in four incidents during Tuesday’s unrest, and each incident would be investigated. Aside from the round that hit Tsang, the five other shots were fired into the air as warnings.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid affiliated with People’s Daily, also came out in support of the police officer.
“If rioters were shot and killed by police officers defending themselves because the rioters deliberately created extreme circumstance putting the officers’ life at risk, [I am confident that] most Hong Kong people can tell right from wrong,” Hu wrote on his blog.
“Rioters must accept the consequences of their own dangerous actions.
“It’s just common sense that in any civilised society no rioter can assume to be safe if the rule of law is to prevail.”
The commentary, filed by Xinhua’s Hong Kong branch, was not picked up by any mainland Chinese media or outlet, which focused on Tuesday’s parade and celebration in Beijing. There was also no mention of the demonstrations on the Tuesday or Wednesday evening news programmes of CCTV, the state broadcaster.
Only CGTN, CCTV’s overseas arm, released a video clip on Tuesday through YouTube, which is not accessible on the mainland, calling on young people in Hong Kong to embrace the economic opportunities available on the mainland.
Beijing’s key departments overseeing Hong Kong affairs were also silent about the shooting and protests. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which launched a social media account on WeChat on Tuesday, limited itself on Wednesday to a few messages about the National Day celebrations.
Beihang University law professor Tian Feilong, a specialist on Beijing’s policies for Hong Kong, said he expected the crisis would be a lower priority for Beijing in coming weeks.
“There is now less pressure on the central government, which was pretty nervous about the chaos [in Hong Kong getting out of control] on National Day,” Tian said.
“The central government will support the [Hong Kong] government in going tough [on the protesters], but Beijing won’t act tough with Hong Kong,” he said. “After months of stress tests, Beijing has fully realised that there is no need for it to intervene forcefully [in Hong Kong].”
