HK Police's Absurdist Alternative Reality

How can the police say this was not an indiscriminate attack in Yuen Long?

This morning two Democratic Party lawmakers were arrested, Ted Hui Chi-fung, whose two private prosecutions were dismissed by Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah the other day, and Lam Cheuk-ting.

When Lam opened the door and saw a group of police officers there, he asked them what the charge was. They said it was for rioting during the July 21 Yuen Long attacks in the MTR station last year.

"Me? Taking part in a riot? The July 21 riot?" he said in apparent disbelief. "It's utter absurdity in Hong Kong. 

Lam Cheuk-ting after he was attacked on July 21 last year

"Corrupt police have become the authorities' tools to suppress dissidents, and now they even blur the lines of right and wrong, and maliciously accuse the victim as defendant," he said before the officers came in to search his flat.

Welcome to the new alternative reality, where the Hong Kong Police are now claiming they have to "restore the truth".

But the truth is that Lam did contact the police earlier that evening, saying there were people being beaten up in Yuen Long and for them to investigate. He even got a letter from the police commissioner dated August 3 that commends him for his response to the attacks.

"You've fulfilled your civic responsibility by reporting this serious crime to the police," said the letter.

Then why was he being arrested for rioting?

Lam himself was beaten up that day, sustaining a bone fracture in his right arm and needed 18 stitches near his mouth.

Ted Hui was arrested and handcuffed this morning

But this afternoon, New Territories (North) Senior Superintendent Chan Tin-chu claimed the public had relied on "lopsided, twisted, misleading and flawed" online footage to form an incorrect view of the incident.

Then he gave his alternative view of events to reporters, some of whom were there that night.

As for why 16 people were arrested today, Chan explained they did not need to be involved in committing any assault in order to be deemed to be "rioting"; they only need to be among three or more people whose conduct is either disorderly, threatening, abusive, or provocative in a manner likely to breach the peace.

What?

When it comes to the July 21 attacks in Yuen Long, people were coming home after protesting on Hong Kong Island. they were not "rioting".

And what about those white-shirted men, many of them with triad connections, who brandished rods and bamboo sticks and beat people with them?

Chan claims police were pushing white-shirted men away

Chan even had the gall to say the Yuen Long attack involved two evenly-matched parties with different views, denying it was an indiscriminate attack by those in white shirts who numbered around 100.

How can it be evenly matched? One group had weapons while the other only had umbrellas!

The absurdity would only continue.

In explaining the video clip of what looked like police patting the shoulder of white shirted men -- holding rods, that many saw as collusion between the white shirts and the police, Chan explained it was actually the police pushing them away.

"The act of pushing them was an order for them to leave. But it was distorted by ill-intended people who slandered the force as colluding with the triads."

Why weren't those people arrested for possession of a weapon?

Footage shows more of a pat than a push, and no arrest?

When reporters challenged Chan, asking why the police did not take down the personal details of the white-shirted men, he refused to answer the question and instead referred to the earlier demonstrations in Sheung Wan.

Gaslighting at its best.

Chan even changed the force's earlier admission that it took officers 39 minutes to arrive at the Yuen Long MTR station following emergency calls and claimed that the officers actually responded in 18 minutes. He said officers had called for reinforcements at 10.57pm and they arrived at 11.15pm.

What about explaining why the police didn't respond earlier?

Meanwhile former Stand News reporter, Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam, who was one of the first on the scene and was attacked during the incident, said her hour-long live video captured the men in white shirts and passengers being attacked but there were no officers in sight.

Attacks continued in the train, terrorizing innocent victims

"Even if the police arrest all the victims of the July 21 incident, you can never rewrite history," she said. "That was an indiscriminate attack and I believe anyone who watched my video would come to that conclusion."

The pan-democrats held an angry press conference in response to Chan's alternative reality. The lawmakers were incredulous to the police's version of events and accused the force of whitewashing history, while calling the arrests of the victims of the attacks as an affront to people's conscience and common sense.

"They just issued a political statement: 'we are very correct. We are the law! If we think you are criminal, we will arrest you... We don't need any particularly good reasons at all. We just do what we need to do and we can say what we want to say because we are the law.' What sort of muddy, dire situation are you trying to land the whole Hong Kong into?" Council Front lawmaker Claudia Mo asked.

Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai condemned police for taking "revenge" and accused the government of crushing dissent instead of trying to heal the rifts in society.

"We can see they are utilizing all power and legal tools to turn black into white," Wu said. "The government is turning themselves into enemies of the people. It is just outrageous."

Pan-democrats are incredulous at police's version of events

Well yes, this contempt already began last year when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ignored the peaceful protests by 1 million, then 2 million people to rescind the extradition law.

And now any kind of dissent can be easily crushed thanks to the new national security law.

This has put pan-democratic lawmakers in a bind, wondering if they should even bother to try to hold the government accountable but then be accused of being disloyal to Hong Kong.

Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung said the government as effectively "declared war" on the people of Hong Kong, and communication may no longer be possible.

"I wanted to try my best to squeeze any room there is in this Legco to continue to help the needy. But I think it has gone far too much that I don't know how I can face this government, who would try to rewrite anything as they wish and completely subdue themselves under the command of the mainland officials," he said.

The pan-democrats have encouraged the public to wear black tomorrow as a sign of protest against "the police's lie". 

Never forget what you saw July 21 last year. No one has a right to change that reality.