Carrie Lam on Repeat

Carrie Lam reappears after two weeks to repeat what she said before...

This morning Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor came out of hiding for the past two weeks and held a press conference and said -- nothing new.

Peaceful general strike rallies were held in areas like Admiralty

She claimed the protesters were now calling for revolution and to liberate Hong Kong. "These actions are beyond their original political demands. These actions challenged national sovereignty. They threatened 'one country, two systems' and would destroy the city's prosperity and stability."

This is not true. The protesters continue to reiterate their five demands, including that Lam withdraw the extradition bill and set up an independent inquiry on how police have handled protesters.

In English Lam added: "Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain demands or uncooperative movement have seriously undermined Hong Kong's law and order and are pushing our city, the city we all love and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation."

In addition, she said she would not resign, and Lam did not present any solutions moving forward, basically maintaining the same stance as before, painting the protesters as extremists and standing by the police force in maintaining what she claimed was law and order.

Instructions for tear gas says: "Do not fire directly at persons"

Again the entire population of Hong Kong was angry that she did not offer any new ideas or solutions, that it was just as well a lot of people went on a general strike today.

And at first it was relatively peaceful. There were disruptions on the MTR and for the most part people were patient, though some commuters were really angry. The same could be said at the airport where some 250 flights were cancelled. Then at 1pm there were some seven locations for people to gather in Hong Kong to demonstrate their frustration to the government.

There were massive turnouts in Admiralty and Sha Tin, but soon attention was turned to Tin Shui Wai, Tai Po, Kwun Tong, Causeway Bay and Tseung Kwan O. Police seemed to have no qualms firing endless rounds of tear gas at protesters in four different districts.

When reporters picked up the discharged tear gas tubes from the United States, the directions explicitly say that they should not be shot AT people but ABOVE them, which is not at all what the police have been doing these past two months.

A lot of tear gas was fired on Tin Shui Wai today

And the police claimed today they have fired 1,000 rounds of tear gas since June 9. Is that for sure? It could be many more than that. Meanwhile over 500 people have been arrested so far ranging in ages from 14 to 76.

Then tonight in North Point, men with long bamboo sticks began attacking protesters and a fight ensured on the street. Where were the police again? The men with sticks were outnumbered and eventually retreated, but not without shocking images of them hitting people with rage.

See Carrie, look what you've done! You didn't offer any solutions so the violence has further escalated.

Watching this all unfold all day was shocking and scary. But it's really all her fault and Beijing offers no other way out except to continue to fire tear gas and pepper spray at people, protesters and innocent victims alike.

A violent mob scene in North Point this evening

Most people are still on the side of the protesters because they see the inaction of the government as completely unacceptable. So the rage continues.

When Lam was asked at the press conference if she would resign, she replied: 

"In such a dangerous situation, when we're talking about Hong Kong's future and stability, when the well-being of 7 million people faces huge challenges, this is no longer about my personal honour. My colleagues and I have the responsibility to stand fast to our positions. And we hope to restore social order as early as possible."

So the answer is no. Reporters tried to ask more questions of accountability, but she and eight of her ministers left. So much for claiming to listen to people's concerns.

Does this mean Lam goes back in hiding for another two weeks? Some sarcastically say that she's been on strike for two weeks...

Just after 6pm, this is what the Causeway Bay MTR looked like

This evening I had dinner plans and cancelled them by late afternoon. And then I went home early, and saw all the stores had shut early, leaving the usually bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay very quiet. Even the MTR station had hardly anyone.

Is this how you want to kill Hong Kong's economy, Carrie? The Hang Seng Index lost 777 points. Ironically it's the same number of votes that got you this chief executive job.

Time to show some leadership. Carrie? Carrie?