More Questions Than Answers

Hong Kong police firing tear gas into the protesters gathered at Legco

This morning everyone at work wanted to talk about the violence that erupted in the Legislative Council late last night and early morning. The incident brought up many more questions than answers.

The biggest question is: the police in riot gear were inside the Legislative Council trying to stop protesters from using makeshift tools to break into the building all day and afternoon, and threatened to punish them. But around 9pm, the police seem to have disappeared and this was an open invitation for the protesters to finally smash a glass wall or door and come in.

Protesters defaced the Bahinia symbol but leaving HK clear

If that wasn't enough, the police weren't anywhere in sight when the protesters stormed the building and began trashing the place. Interestingly when it came to the Bauhinia flower logo, they spray painted in black the words: "People's Republic of China" and left the Hong Kong part clean.

When the protesters were done trashing the place around 11.30pm, the police warned they would come in at midnight to clear the building. The protesters discussed what to do and at this point there were more reporters than protesters in Legco chambers.

A few decided to stay, and reporters were ready for the police to come in, when a group of protesters with yellow helmets rushed inside, shouting, "We all leave together!" and dragged the rest of them out. Quite dramatic.

Even more dramatic was at 12.08am when the police began firing several rounds of tear gas to disperse the protesters out of Legco and back to Admiralty. Within minutes the protesters retreated and many of them left the scene, probably by MTR as it would be closing before 1am. Down in the station protesters left lots of coins for the others to buy tickets in cash so that they would not be tracked.

Why did the police suddenly decide to get rid of the protesters like this within minutes when they had all day to keep them away from Legco? As one colleague pointed out -- which country would ever allow protesters to storm their own parliament?

It didn't make sense, and lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung believed it was a trap.

In the end, the vast majority of the protesters left Admiralty by 1am, but it wasn't until 4am when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor decided to hold a press conference in front of extremely exhausted reporters who had been covering the constantly evolving incident all day.

Why did she decide to speak to the media at that hour? One person joked on Twitter that she didn't dare show her face until then. Another suggested she was like Dracula and didn't like sunlight.

Why oh why Carrie, hold a press conference at 4am?

Her actions are strange too -- the pan-democrats sent her an urgent message before the clear-out that they needed to speak to her in the hopes of diffusing the situation -- Lam ignored them. This is ironic considering earlier in the morning in her speech she promised to engage people of all walks of life...

She had many chances to engage with the protesters and yet she didn't even bother to reach out. Was this an instruction from Beijing, not to compromise? Then why make empty promises? People's respect for her has plunged.

In the meantime Chinese state media are having a field day condemning the violent protesters and saying rule of law must return to Hong Kong.

But are they really the same protesters we saw march on June 9, 12 and 16? They had fought so hard to win people's support and yet they threw it all away ramming trolleys and sharp metal objects into the glass walls at Legco?

This I find hard to reckon with. I understand the desperation, but to wipe out all that hard-earned good will away in less than a day? It doesn't make sense.

Some have suggested perhaps they were triad members stirring up trouble -- after all they were attacking the place with masks and umbrellas so it's hard to easily identify them.

What does this all mean?

Lam basically has a lame-duck administration -- she has lost credibility and integrity, though Beijing continues to support her behind the scenes.

What happened last night is a sign of what's to come -- more violence to get the authorities' attention. What will it take? More lives lost? It's not worth it.

In terms of dollars, how about resolving the issue so that people will go back to focusing on their jobs and making money? People aren't in the mood to shop and dine when they would rather march on the streets for an important cause...