Time for Hong Kong protesters and police to cease fire and allow voters their right to choose

On November 18, Hong Kong’s High Court ruled that the anti-mask regulation enacted under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance was unconstitutional under the Basic Law. The mainland government’s denouncement was swift: it stated that the anti-mask regulation has been effective in reducing vandalism and violence, is constitutional under the “one country two systems” framework, and is subject to the interpretation of the National People’s Congress, not Hong Kong’s High Court.

Since the enactment of the anti-mask regulation, however, escalating clashes between the police and radicals have diminished any claim of its effectiveness, punctuated by the explosive occupation and clearance of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Hung Hom campus. The anti-mask regulation’s main impetus has been “adding fuel to the fire”: masked radicals have been ignoring the mask ban’s incremental penalty anyway because, if arrested, they face the charge of rioting which carries a 10-year jail sentence.

Scheduled for Sunday are the district council elections, which allow all voters to directly choose their local councillors. The election’s outcome is significant, chiefly because it will reveal the majority preference for councillors affiliated with pro-establishment, pan-democracy or politically neutral camps.

Hence, it is time for an immediate ceasefire by all parties, to allow what is effectively a public referendum on the make-up of Hong Kong’s future governance.

Protesters and their opponents should not sabotage Sunday’s election, which is the only feasible avenue to materially express their political views.

After Sunday’s election, the ceasefire may be extended, with new terms to be worked out (for example, the government’s commitment to set up an independent panel of inquiry in exchange for protesters’ commitment to drop violence). Its immediate notice of intent can be jointly announced by the pro-establishment and pan-democratic Legislative Council members, whose entrenched positions have thus far failed to resolve Hong Kong’s ongoing conflict.

Enough pain has been inflicted, enough families broken, enough tears shed, enough arrests made, enough people dead and hurt. It is time for a ceasefire, an act to be achieved with courage, rationality and, most importantly, love.

Hong Kong simply cannot solve its political crisis with more tear gas canisters, bullets rubber or real, water cannons or arrests. Nor can Hong Kong return to its peaceful and lawful self if there is more vandalism and violence.

C.K. Woo, professor, Department of Asian and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong