Carrie Lam Denies Reality

Carrie Lam claims the violence has to end before peace can come to HK

The insanity that is Hong Kong continues.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave her regular press briefing this morning, and blamed the city's "technical recession" on the protesters.

"To get to the root of the problems, we must stop violence and let calmness restore in the city... but it was unfortunately that on Sunday and last night, rioters found some excuses, and engaged in extreme violence."

Protesters are still coming out with masks and umbrellas

When asked by CNN if she had any other political tools to bring peace to Hong Kong, as subsidies to the transport and hospitality industries are just band-aids, Lam reiterated that the violence had to be dealt with first before dialogue could take place, though she added dialogues have already started.

Come on Carrie! The problem is that your inability to listen to the 1 million then 2 million residents of Hong Kong about how they felt about the proposed extradition bill has forced them to escalate their actions to violence. That was the only way you actually paid attention... not that you have solved the issue. Too little too late.

And do you understand that even though there are protesters that are violent, there are many people who may not also be on the streets, but they are quietly supporting these people on the front lines? Or maybe you can't fathom this could possibly be true.

Perhaps you should look at the latest poll by Dr Robert Chung of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute.

Your popularity rating has dropped to another historic low of 20.2, according to a telephone poll of 1,038 people between October 17 and 23.

Some MTR stations were vandalized again on the weekend

The previous low was 22.3 earlier this month. That means more than 80 percent of poll respondents gave Lam a vote of no confidence, while 70 percent said they distrusted the government.

Meanwhile an RTHK reporter asked Lam to comment on the Financial Times article last week that claimed the central government was looking to replace her by March. Lam repeated that Beijing was still supportive of her  and parroted the Foreign Ministry in saying the story was "politically motivated", though what exactly the Foreign Ministry said cannot be found on its website anymore...

But there was more aggravating news later in the day. Joshua Wong Chi-fung of Demosisto was finally and formally disqualified from running in next month's district council elections. He is the only candidate to be barred from running because of his political stance.

"The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR," returning officer Laura Liang Aron wrote in a six-page report.

Joshua Wong says his disqualification is politically motivated

Wong was clearly not pleased, along with many who believe the voting system has become politicized.

"The ban is clearly political driven," he said. "The so-called reason is judging subjectively on my intention to uphold the Basic Law. But everyone knows the true reason is my identity -- Joshua Wong is a crime in their mind.

"I have never actively advocated independence as an option, but she twisted and wrongly interpreted my remark," he continued, adding that Beijing had clearly exerted great pressure on Hong Kong officials, demonstrated by the original returning officer taking sick leave and the People's Daily calling him an "independence leader".

Wong also points out the question of allegiance does not mention district councils in the legislation, so why are candidates being vetted this way?

What is wrong about having Wong run in the elections? As someone pointed out on Twitter, wouldn't it be better for him to win the election and then be so busy with domestic affairs that he wouldn't be able to travel around the world and advocate freedom for Hong Kong?

Police are using more aggressive tactics to deal with protesters

This decision to disqualify him only further infuriates people -- not just protesters, but even ordinary people who are seeing "one country, two systems" eroding even further.

Wong says he will consider taking legal action after the November 24 district council elections. In the meantime the candidate he was planning to run against, incumbent Judy Chan Ka-pui of the New People's Party is concerned she is not a shoe-in because there is so much backlash against pro-Beijing political parties at the moment.

The apparent meddling by Beijing is enough to keep protesters -- active or not -- focused on the fight. There are too many instances of Hong Kong's rights and freedoms deteriorating that they cannot bear to just stand by and let it happen.

So while there may not look like there are a lot of protesters out on the streets these days, Carrie, they have many more people who have their back.