Hong Kong malls in the middle between mainland outrage and local fears
- Violent scenes in shopping centres have led to bans on riot police entering, to the fury of online mainlanders
Hong Kong shopping centres are under fire on Chinese social media over their treatment of the city’s police during the ongoing unrest, driving developers to appease high-spending mainlanders with apologetic statements.
On Monday, in a statement to mainland newspaper Global Times, New World Development apologised for a “misunderstanding” over a previous apology it had issued to Hong Kong protesters for allowing riot police to use the public toilets at its D Park shopping centre on Saturday.
The initial apology had sparked fury among mainland Chinese, who have shown strong support for Hong Kong police. Over the weekend, social media users on China’s Twitter-like Weibo slammed D Park, in the New Territories town of Tsuen Wan, and called for a boycott of other malls owned by New World Development.
“The statement clearly indicates that Hong Kong police entering the mall to use the toilet destroyed public order. New World Development, you don’t ever need to call the police in future or need them to help you restore order,” said one popular comment on Weibo on the weekend.
“I’m a Shenzhen resident and go to Hong Kong very often, but this is the first time I heard of this mall. Turns out that you don’t let police enter to use the bathroom! Hong Kong police work so hard to protect citizens and you bully them just like the pro-independence rubbish youth!” another Weibo user said.