There’s no silent majority in Hong Kong, only a terrified minority while the rest are fine with mob rule and anarchy
- Yonden Lhatoo questions the narrative that most Hongkongers are opposed to protest violence, as hardly anyone speaks out against the systematic destruction of what was once a great city
I was stranded in our Causeway Bay office with my late-shift colleagues after putting the paper to bed on Friday night, thanks to democracy.
The company had arranged emergency hotel accommodation for us, but we all wanted to go home after a particularly hard day at work. Only, there were no vehicles on the streets, and complete chaos had taken over as the freedom fighters on the front lines of the great “revolution of our times” went about “liberating” Hong Kong in an orgy of unfettered violence, vandalism and anarchy.
For hours after the government invoked a draconian colonial-era law to announce a midnight ban on the wearing of face masks at all protests – and then did absolutely nothing to enforce it – unhinged youngsters in, yes, masks, went on a rampage across the city, trashing and burning MTR stations, shops, bank outlets and other public or private property.
Anyone who got in their way was beaten to a pulp, and in one notably shocking incident, a rioter grabbed a handgun dropped by a lone plain-clothes policeman as they attempted to lynch him and burn him with petrol bombs. The officer managed to snatch the gun back and prevent a real tragedy.
Rioters were allowed to run amok with impunity for hours in my own neighbourhood of Hung Hom. A colleague on the ground, who watched them exercise to extremes the very freedoms they claim to have been deprived of, said there was not a single police officer in sight the entire time as they yelled, “Where are you? We are breaking the law! Come and arrest us if you dare!”
They left, disappointed, after vandalising and firebombing shuttered MTR station entrances, declaring, “It’s not worth it, nobody’s coming.”
On Saturday morning, Hongkongers woke up to find the entire MTR network – their most important means of public transport – closed for the first time in the city’s history by popular demand. And by that, I mean the vast majority of the population seems fine with what happened the night before.
Clearly, the fact our already overwhelmed and much maligned police force stood by and pretty much let the rioters dance around their bonfires had much to do with public sentiment and satisfaction. If the riot squad had been deployed to stop the anarchy, hysterical residents in pyjamas and flip flops would have been out on the streets, screaming obscenities at them and demanding they leave.
That’s not quite true, you say? Only a minority supports protest violence in this city of nearly 7.5 million, and the silent majority is against it? It’s starting to sound like bovine faeces to me, the existence of these mysterious millions who apparently disapprove of all the nonsense going on in the name of fighting for democracy, but are not going to say or do anything about it.
You can literally count on your fingers the number of people with the courage to say anything aloud nowadays against the destruction of our city.
The reality is, more like, there are thousands of youngsters on the streets who have tasted blood and become intoxicated by the success of mob rule. They are supported by a massive demographic that includes lawyers, teachers, doctors and other professionals who constantly gloss over and find excuses for all the outrageous excesses on the front lines of the anti-government movement.
Well, you know what, the people have spoken and the people have got what they want. The MTR has been so badly crippled that it can’t get back on track.
Next, it’s the turn of the police force, which the people want defeated and disbanded. And that’s coming soon, don’t worry, because you can already see discipline among frontline officers unravelling as they reach the end of their tether.
What comes after that? Ask the people, they’re singing cheerfully in shopping centres – in masks.
Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post
