In prosecuting Hong Kong protesters, the Justice Department is simply doing its job

Lawmaker Dennis Kwok wants to know why our Department of Justice has not prosecuted the men in white who attacked people in Yuen Long, and why the Secretary for Justice is going after protesters first (“Hong Kong’s justice department denies prosecution of protesters is politically motivated”, August 7). May I give an answer?

Our Justice Department’s job is to prosecute, after the police arrest suspects. Kwok must not put the cart before the horse.

It appears less than 1 per cent of the troublemakers who vandalised the Legislative Council building and police stations have been arrested, but Mr Kwok has not complained about that.

Politics may sometimes play a role in how punishments are meted out. We Chinese are familiar with the saying: 亂世用重典. To paraphrase, in a chaotic situation like the one we are in now, more severe measures are needed as a deterrent.

Felix Shin, Kowloon City

Stop persecuting the police

Albert Cheng in “Carrie Lam must clean up her own mess” (July 26) said some people “reported” seeing uniformed policemen turn a blind eye to the attack at Yuen Long station but did not provide any proof. He said the police did not dispel rumours that there would be more triad attacks, but how would they know anyway?

Yes, the triad members should be arrested and they have been, a fact he subsequently downplayed as it would contradict his narrative that the police are tolerating the triads. Everyone knows that every time the triads act, people use it to attack the police. So what would the police get out of tolerating the triads?

Cheng complained about police “misconduct”. The police are simply going by the book. The protesters get repeated warnings from the police. Of course, they prefer to start trouble and ignore these warnings. If the police are unfairly persecuted, the entire force, including the traffic police, should call in sick and not return to work until the persecution of the police ends.

Jim Robinson, New York