Just Saying | Please don’t let South Asians burn in Hong Kong’s revolution

Yonden Lhatoo warns that the city’s vulnerable ethnic minority groups are being vilified to dangerous effect by those adding racial hatred into the mix of social unrest and protest violence

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An open letter by anti-racism activists has warned Hongkongers against using race to ignite and fan the flames of anger in an extremely charged political environment. Photo: Fung Chang

Published: 4:36pm, 19 Oct 2019Updated: 10:51pm, 19 Oct 2019

An ill wind is blowing in Hong Kong that threatens to add a whole new dimension to the ugly side of the civil unrest that has been plaguing this city for well over four months now.

I’m talking about the targeting of ethnic minority groups, easily visible South Asians in particular, as those who have subverted the anti-government protest movement with venom and violence look for more victims and scapegoats.

It’s bad enough that extreme resentment against Beijing is regularly misdirected at mainlanders who have been abused, harassed and attacked on the streets in the name of this great “revolution of our times”. Now another vulnerable demographic is facing persecution by the champions of freedom and democracy as they go about “liberating” us.

When a bunch of thugs went on a rampage in July at Yuen Long MTR station, indiscriminately beating up commuters and protesters returning from a mass rally, public outrage quickly took off on a xenophobic tangent, thanks to scurrilous rumours spreading online that South Asian men had been paid to carry out the attack.

Members of this ethnic minority community around the area had to live in fear of reprisals, some shutting down businesses and others staying indoors until tensions cooled.

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