Hong Kong protesters angry at police violence can be blind to their own: the cycle of hate must end

I understand many of us in Hong Kong’s “yellow camp” are upset by the violent police action seen during the ongoing protests. While watching videos of officers hitting young protesters, knowing that their blows could be fatal, I too have found it hard to calm down.

However, the words an elderly person once said to me are deeply imprinted on my heart. He pointed out that, if you hate the whole community due to the words and actions of some people in it, then no matter whether you are in the yellow or blue camp, you hate yourself, because those you are ashamed of are also Hongkongers.

Striving for freedom, democracy and justice is well-founded and reasonable. It is normal to feel anger when witnessing the violent actions of the police. However, many of us in the “yellow” camp are blind to the growing violence of the public.

We call the police “dogs” and “popo”; they label us as “cockroaches”. We retaliate by cursing the police and their families, laughing at their English, ridiculing their educational qualifications and, even worse, putting up their personal details on “Lennon Walls”, circulating derogatory posts on WhatsApp, engaging in cyberbullying, and disrupting their weddings.

Hatred always comes into being for a reason. When we ask, “Why are the police so cold-blooded and violent every day?”, can we also ask ourselves whether we have engaged in mental violence against the police?

We must never ignore the police’s faults – what they allowed gangsters to do to us on July 21 in Yuen Long, for example. But, at the same time, we should not engage in acts of revenge.

Why do we turn a blind eye to our own wrongdoing? Or, if we understand that this is not appropriate, are we afraid of being accused of betraying our own camp, and therefore remain silent?

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that she had only 30,000 police officers. Given this, why do we persist in uniting the police with our hate for them? If we do not refrain from extreme behaviour, the police may not either, and the possibility of an independent inquiry will only decrease. Meanwhile, we only add to the growing list of grievances.

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We must not curse the families of the police, disturb them in their homes, attack individual police officers on social media or ridicule their academic qualifications.

Not hating the police does not mean not wanting an investigation into police misconduct. Violence by the police must not be accepted; we must pursue the goal of an independent inquiry. But acts of hate and insulting the police should cease.

Cindy Chung, Tseung Kwan O