HKU May Remove Tiananmen Sculpture

The Pillar of Shame stands at Haking Wong Podium at HKU

The University of Hong Kong is reportedly planning to remove the Pillar of Shame, the sculpture that commemorates those who died on June 4, 1989 in Beijing.

Danish artist Jens Galschiot created the 8-metre-tall sculpture, which reminds people of the horrific event which must never recur. The sculpture features 50 torn and twisted bodies that symbolize the degradation,  devaluation and lack of respect of the individual. 

Artist Galschiot created four of these sculptures

There are four Pillar of Shame sculptures, the others are in Italy, Mexico and Brazil.

In 1997, the Pillar of Shame was gifted to the Alliance in Support for Democratic Patriotic Movements of China, which is now disbanded, and most recently its assets frozen by the national security police department.

The alliance and its core members are also charged with inciting subversion.  

It was the HKU students who fought with university leadership to have the statue on campus, and it was subsequently displayed in other universities including Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

So perhaps it's not surprising university management may be taking advantage of the alliance's disbandment and legal issues to possibly remove the sculpture, though it claims it has reviewed risk management measures and facility usage on campus from time to time, but refused to comment on this possible move.

The sculpture is a reminder of June 4, 1989

"The University... will not respond to speculative reports," its spokesman said.

If the sculpture is removed, it will be another win for Beijing to scrub away another memory of June 4 from Hong Kong.

HK Press Freedom Under Attack on World Press Freedom Day

RTHK contributor Bao Choy was convicted last month

 

Today is World Press Freedom Day and ironically press freedom in Hong Kong is under attack with the sacking of Cantonese-speaking RTHK journalist Nabela Qoser, and the publicly funded broadcaster is deleting stories and programs from the internet that are over a year old, signalling its opportunity to rewrite history.

Qoser, a Hong Kong-born journalist of Pakistani descent was known for her pointed, critical questions at government officials during the 2019 anti-government protests. But after complaints about her reporting, she was put under investigation and her contract was was terminated in January, and then she was put on temporary contract until the end of this month.

Qoser must leave RTHK at the end of May

In the investigation she was cleared of wrongdoing, but another probe was reopened last October.

And then it was discovered RTHK has begun deleting news stories and programs over a year old on its website and social media accounts.

RTHK claimed this practice was consistent with its policy, and documentaries from Hong Kong Connection and episodes from the axed satirical show Headliner were among the first to be taken down from YouTube.

Some Hongkongers are now rushing to save whatever is left on the RTHK sites to prevent them from being disappeared by putting them on a blockchain content-sharing platform.

"After [RTHK] was painted red by [director of broadcasting] Patrick Li Pak-chuen, all its contents will be removed from the shelves. To ensure history will not be forgotten, internet users have decided to upload the programs here," said a statement posted on an online platform called "SaveRTHK".

Lui says deleting programs against public interest

Bruce Lui, a journalism lecturer at Baptist University said RTHK may be the owner of the programs, but removing them from the internet is against public interest and a waste of taxpayer money.

"News is the first draft of history and also the public can look at it afterwards and learn what happened in the past. If we delete those records, it's sort of clearing the history so that the public won't have a very good picture of what happened," he said.

He noted many of the programs removed were related to the social unrest of 2019.

"The government and Beijing are trying very hard to create their own version of history, so they can have their mainstream definition and it will also take away embarrassment and wrongdoings of the government," he said. 

Screen shot of RTHK's deleted shows on YouTube

"In the future, people will only know the government's version, without knowing the civilian version of history."

How chilling is that? The authorities are attempting to whitewash what happened only two years ago even though people not only have other sources of news to look up, but also first-hand experiences of being in the protests. The government is basically negating their actions, or prosecuting them.

And on top of what happened today,  Hong Kong's press freedom index as rated by journalists has sunk to an all time low thanks to the government's imposition of the national security law last June.

In a joint survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, 367 journalists were surveyed and gave the city's press freedom a score of 32.1 out of 100, even lower than the previous record last year of 36.2.

HKJA's chairman Chris Yeung Kin-hing warned "the worst is yet to come".

"The chilling effect of the national security law will become more prevalent and intrusive in every aspect of [our society]. I don't think there is any room for optimism," he told a press conference today, predicting the index would drop again.

Yeung worries HK press freedom will worsen

Up to 85 percent of the journalists surveyed said the government is the source of media suppression. 

A staggering 99 percent of all the respondents said the enactment last June of the national security law had harmed press freedom, with 77 percent saying the legislation caused "great damage". 

When asked to rate a list of 2020 incidents for their repercussions for the industry, 99 percent agreed the prosecution of RTHK contributor Bao Choy Yuk-ling was harmful to press freedom.

She was recently found guilty of knowingly making a false statement when tracing the ownership of vehicles that were apparently used to ferry white-shirted men to Yuen Long MTR station to assault people there on the night of July 21, 2019. Choy was fined HK$6,000 (US$772).

Then 98 percent of respondents told the survey the August 2020 raid of Next Digital's offices -- headquarters of Apple Daily -- also triggered a decline in press freedom.

Yeung was concerned the government may be shifting to follow the mainland, where the media is used as a propaganda tool for the central government.

Police raid of Next Digital last August

It certainly looks like RTHK is being muzzled and with the deletion of previous content, it is paving the way for recreating a new version of Hong Kong's history. This should ring alarm bells for anyone in the city and around the world about what is happening here and more attention needs to be paid to the situation.

But with everyone too busy fighting the pandemic, and bickering over getting vaccinated or not, Hong Kong's rights and freedoms continue to erode even further, making one wonder when they will bottom out...

World Press Photo Exhibition

Dancer Musa Motha by Alon Skuy

 

The 2020 World Press Photo Exhibition is in its 63rd year and this is the third time it has been shown in Hong Kong.

This year it was supposed to be held on March 1 at Hong Kong Baptist University in Kowloon Tong, but it was abruptly cancelled in late February by the university's officials who were concerned after a pro-Beijing media outlet, DotDotNews attacked the tertiary institution for "inciting violence".

School girls on the way to protest in Hong Kong

Management was concerned pro-Beijing figures would come to the show and stage a protest over the Hong Kong images, and then draw pro-democracy activists to counter protest which could then possibly result in a clash.

So the university cited "campus security" and the coronavirus pandemic as reasons why the exhibition was called off.

Luckily the event was back on March 28, this time in a co-working space in Admiralty, with visitors having to preregister online to ensure only a certain number of people were inside the room per hour.

I managed to catch the show today, the second last day, after work and when the elevator doors opened, there was a large crowd of people waiting to get into the show, filling out paper health declaration forms and showing their confirmation emails to go in.

A first-aider in shock of being arrested

The exhibition shows the best images from the annual photo contest that began in 1955 when a group of Dutch photographers organized an international photo contest to expose their work to a global audience.

It is now shown in 120 cities in 50 countries, and this year, 4,282 photographers from 125 countries entered 73,996 photographs to the contest.

There were photographs of the 2019 anti-government protests by Danish photographer Nicolas Asfouri. It's a series of pictures including school girls in a blue and white uniform holding hands on their way to a "human-chain" protest looking defiant and confident, while another shows a young man who is a first aider pinned down by a police officer on the ground, his facial expression reveals shock at what has happened to him, on his chest are vials of saline solution to treat people for tear gas.

A roadrunner looks at the US-Mexico wall

To be honest these pictures were not the best ones taken during the social unrest, but it is good to see the protests included in the exhibition.

Photographer Alon Skuy of South Africa, took a beautiful portrait of a young man, Musa Motha, who was a promising football [soccer] player, but at the age of 11 had his leg amputated because of cancer. He took up dancing instead and uses his crutches and gravity to create his moves and now performs professionally with the Vuyani Dance Theatre in Johannesburg.

A striking photograph is of a giant barbed wire fence and a roadrunner looking at it inquisitively. It was captured by Mexican Alejandro Prieto of the wall then US President Donald Trump was building along the US-Mexico border. There were concerns the wall would negatively affect 23 endangered and at-risk species. With Biden administration in office, construction of the wall has halted, but nothing yet has been decided.

A car melted by the Australian fires

The Australian fires were shocking to see in the news -- remember those koalas that had to be rescued by humans? Here photographer Matthew Abbott for the New York Times captured the heat of the intense fires with a burnt out car that is melting. Aluminum melts at 660.3 degrees Celsius and there's streams of the melted metal emanating from the vehicle creating an eerie sight. 

The Toronto Raptors had an amazing run in 2019, winning the NBA Championships. Canadian photographer Mark Blinch shot a great picture of the game-winning shot of the Raptors against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-finals in Toronto. Every person's reaction is captured -- almost all of them eyeing the ball go into the basket, as if frozen in time. It could have been a painting of that moment. Amazing.

The final second of the Raptors vs 76ers game

There are other horrific stories, like that of Belarusian women who were forced to have abortions. One woman had a wooden leg when she was pregnant by her boyfriend but he left her when his mother told him she didn't want a disabled daughter-in-law. Another aborted after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, worried she could not handle another child (she already had one). One young woman was sexually assaulted by her boss. All these women did not reveal their faces or names.

In addition there were mages of people fleeing Isis, people burying their loved ones, others just trying to survive under the Taliban, or being defiant and holding protests in the streets, but unsure of what would happen.

Animals were also subjects, with one pangolin held by the tail as a cook is about to butcher it for a meal, or orphaned orangutans clutching onto their human mothers for a chance at survival, and a polar bear mother and cub inspecting flags posted on the Arctic Circle. 

A pangolin about to become someone's dinner

So glad to be able to see this exhibition and see what all the fuss was about. Everyone in the room was respectful and quiet in looking at the pictures, so why cancel it? This is an international photo exhibition that deserves to be shown, photographers capturing moments as they saw them. They help us witness what is happening around the world.

 

Hong Kong's Rising Number of University Dropouts

The numbers of students graduating are decreasing

 

If one needs another sign that Hong Kong's young people are leaving the city, look no further than the university statistics. They show more than 2,100 students dropped out of eight local universities in the 2019-20 year, up 15 percent from 2018-19.

It's the highest number of dropouts since 2004 when this data was first recorded. 

Chinese University was damaged from clashes

The figures were released by the University Grants Committee, the main funding body for the city's public institutions of higher learning, showed that some schools had more dropouts than others, with one as much as a 40 percent increase in 2019-20 compared to the previous academic year.

While most universities cited personal and family issues as the reasons for withdrawals, student leaders said their peers left to study abroad following the anti-government protests in 2019.

There are other surveys showing students in primary and secondary schools dropping out over the past year, including from elite institutions, which indicates they most probably left Hong Kong.

In the 2019-20 academic year, 2,120 undergraduate and postgraduate students withdrew from the city's eight publicly-funded universities, up 15 percent from 1,848 in 2018-19, according to statistics from the grants committee.

While City University and Education University did not see an uptick in dropouts, Polytechnic University saw the biggest drop at 505 students leaving, 40 percent more than the 359 who quit the previous year.

HKU saw a low number of students drop out

Meanwhile the University of Hong Kong saw 357 students leave, the University of Science and Technology had 207 students withdraw, up 36 and 35 percent respectively, and Chinese University had 311 students leave, a 13 percent rise.

The numbers include local and non-local students.

Poly U and Chinese University sustained the most damage during the 2019 protests when protesters occupied the campuses and had clashes with police. 

Edy Jeh Tsz-lam, a student representative of HKU's governing council and former president of the student union, said she believed some dropouts could be non-local students who returned to their home countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, while local students left Hong Kong to study elsewhere.

She heard of students transferring to universities in Taiwan and the UK, while others had quit university to reapply to study other subjects because their personal goals had changed.

"For instance, a friend of mine who was studying law told me [during the 2019 protests] that she was considering quitting university and reapplying for dentistry, as she believed studying law and [entering the legal sector] in Hong Kong was no longer meaningful," Jeh said, citing critics who had declining confidence in the local judicial system.

CUHK saw 13 percent increase in withdrawals

PolyU student union president Alan Wu Wai-kuen said he had peers who had chosen to study elsewhere after dropping out, going to countries like Australia and Canada. 

However officially, Baptist, Polytechnic, Education and Lingnan universities cited personal reasons for why students withdrew, while a Chinese University spokeswoman said students transferring to another local institution or overseas universities was also a major factor.

The dropout figures for 2019-20 were the highest since the 2003-04 academic year, the earliest for which the grants committee data was immediately available. That year about 1,704 students withdrew, while in the 2010-11 year saw the lowest number of students dropout at 1,057. It has hovered around the 1,800 a year since 2015.

But the most recent figures are troubling, and professor Lau Chi-pang of Lingnan University's associate vice-president of academic affairs and external relations says more studies should be conducted to find out the real reasons why students have quit.

Poly U saw biggest drop in students leaving

"The government should maybe also look into the phenomenon. It is not just universities being affected," he said, pointing to the concurrent rise in dropouts at primary and secondary schools. "It is, after all, not an isolated topic."

Lau is right and the government should be worried that a stream of students are leaving or have changed their majors. Are we going to see fewer studying law as Jeh suggested, or even history now that national education will change how the subject is taught in schools? 

Hong Kong's political and social environment continues to deterioriate daily, and the numbers of students leaving are a big red flag.

The Worrying State of Hong Kong Media

Will i-Cable be able to retain its integrity with its latest leadership shuffle?

On the same day that Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was being arrested along with seven other people including activist Agnes Chow Ting, some executive shuffling was happening at i-Cable, a paid TV station that elicited some raised eyebrows.

Oscar Lee (right) conducts fawning interview with Chris Tang

Edna Tse Yin-na, who was the former head of the Hong Kong International Business Channel, the English channel under i-Cable, officially took charge of the news department as deputy general manager. She replaced Fung Tak-hung, who now has an advisory role.

Oscar Lee Tsun and Anderson Chan Hing-cheong will report to Tse as department controllers.

Lee and Tse don't exactly garner much respect in the newsroom, while Chan worked with Tse at ATV.

First Lee, who is known for being a television anchor and parenting influencer. He was widely mocked on social media after a recent interview with police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung which critics said was overly fawning and deferential.

Tse did not think Louis Cha's death was newsworthy enough

Meanwhile many question Tse's editorial judgment. When famous and respected novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, best known by his pen name Jin Yong, passed away on October 2018, Tse downplayed his death as not important.

She also seemed to not be familiar with Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang who was detained in August 2015 and wasn't put on trial until three and a half years later. While he was convicted of subverting the state in 2019, he was finally released in April this year, in large part thanks to his wife who relentlessly lobbied for him.

Fung hasn't escaped criticism for his editorial decisions either that are blatantly pro-Beijng. Last June he tried to postpone a show related to the June 4 crackdown, but he retracted his decision following protests inside the newsroom.

Then during this year's anniversary of June 4, an interview on i-Cable with Zhang Xianling, the mother of a 19-year-old who was killed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, was shortened to remove her comments on Hong Kong's national security law and similarities to restrictions in China.

Zhang Xianling's comments about NSL were cut from story

Last year a New Year's segment was edited to take out the chanting of the protest slogan, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time" and was replaced with archival footage of a New Year countdown.

Observers say i-Cable's decline began after it was sold in 2017 to investors, real estate moguls Henry Cheng Kar-shun, and David Chiu Tat-cheong, both of whom have close business ties to China.

Then the broadcaster began diverting resources to focus more on business news in China, while sensitive news items were reported less.

These changes have left reporters in a difficult situation.

"It feels very draining when most of your time is spent on futile fight resisting the collapse of the institution instead of doing actual journalism," said a reporter at i-Cable. "I feel like I am fighting alone. I would also like to leave, but with similar scenes playing out across newsrooms in Hong Kong, where else can I go?"

Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, a senior journalism lecturer at Baptist University, questioned whether the latest appointments were made based on political loyalty.

Jimmy Lai was arrested Monday from his home

"Fung is one of the most experienced veterans in the industry. Although he has sparked controversy after rejoining i-Cable's news department, he only took up the position a little over a year ago," he added.

"He was also replaced by a less experienced colleague. With a big difference between them, this makes me question if political loyalty was the consideration behind Fung's replacement, instead of experience, or was Fung not doing enough in showing his political loyalty?"

As the vast majority of news outlets in Hong Kong are owned by pro-Beijing business owners, reporters and editors have to walk a fine line between serving the interests of the public's right to know, while trying not to offend or get their bosses in trouble.

Which is why Apple Daily, which holds everyone accountable, is such an important barometer for Hong Kong; if and when it goes, press freedom will truly be gone too. Who would be willing to take up that mantle?

Univited Help Arrives

PLA soldiers removing bricks from the road in Kowloon Tong today

This afternoon some residents who live around Pok Fu Lam Road and the University of Hong Kong began clearing the road that had been blocked for the past few days. There were some scuffles with protesters, but for the most part the volunteer clean-up crew were left alone.

Another clean-effort was underway around the Baptist University campus, but Hong Kong residents had some help from an unexpected group -- the People's Liberation Army.

A fellow soldier (right) filmed the soldiers cleaning up

From video clips it looks like several dozen soldiers from the PLA came out of their Kowloon Tong barracks around 4pm dressed in khaki T-shirts and black shorts, or in what look like colourful basketball singlets. Armed with bamboo brooms and red buckets, the soldiers started clearing broken bricks that were strewn all over Renfrew Road that the protesters had left behind.

The last time the soldiers came out was after the devastation of super typhoon Manghkut last October, when they helped to remove felled trees from Hong Kong's country parks. Their help wasn't requested that time either and today they just showed up unannounced.

Oh and yes they had a film crew document their good deed of the day.

According to Article 14 in the Basic Law:

The Central People's Government shall be responsible for the defence of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 
 
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be responsible for the maintenance of public order in the Region. 

Last year the PLA helped clean up the country parks

 
Military forces stationed by the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for defence shall not interfere in the local affairs of the Region. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may, when necessary, ask the Central People's Government for assistance from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief. 
 
In addition to abiding by national laws, members of the garrison shall abide by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 
 
Expenditure for the garrison shall be borne by the Central People's Government.

In this case the PLA is cleaning up roads... a spokesman for the garrison said the police force did not ask them to volunteer. "Stopping violence is everyone's duty," a man giving commands to the soldiers said to reporters.

But in the Basic Law, what the PLA were doing was illegal

Later when pressed by the media, the Hong Kong government replied: "The Hong Kong Garrison’s assistance... is purely a voluntary community activity initiated by themselves. The HKSAR Government has not requested the Garrison’s assistance.” 

Which means the PLA voluntary cleaning-up exercise this afternoon was illegal. 





What is this? It's a test, a trial balloon to see what the public's reaction is to the soldiers, not in uniform, but "volunteering" their time and effort in helping Hong Kong get back on its feet. Some people who watched the PLA soldiers clapped in approval, while the pan-democrats are ringing the alarm bells over this.

Security veteran and Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun believed the move by the PLA was not ordered by the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

"This time, it doesn't look like voluntary service," he said, referring to the soldiers' previous participation in tree planting. "It's more like assisting the maintenance of public order."

A lot of obstacles that need to be cleaned up in Hong Kong

He said if the operation was not based on the Garrison Law, then the soldiers should not come out to clear bricks. "It could be dangerous," To added, referring to potential clashes between them and the protesters.

"They may say PLA soldiers have been attacked... then they can use heavy weapons. This is the most worrying thing."

But the protesters did not confront the soldiers... hopefully knowing there was no point in trying to even fight them.

But having the PLA come out unannounced is rather concerning, especially since protesters are fighting to prevent further interference from Beijing...
 

The Polarization Continues

The entrance to Baptist University is effectively blocked by mini Stonehenges

As I write this, students at Chinese University of Hong Kong are retreating -- about a dozen volunteers have come with cars to take them out.

This ends the four-day occupation of the university safely... but they have left behind a giant mess.

However it seems Hong Kong Polytechnic University is still going strong, the students have prevented any traffic from going through the Cross Harbour Tunnel and even have security checks of every person who walks into the campus.

A fire erupted near Chinese University prompting evacuation

I talked to one professor from the University of Hong Kong -- and it is also his alma mater -- and he said this was the first time he ever had to climb over barricades to get to his office.

The situation has become untenable and the heads of nine universities here have issued an open letter to the government urging the authorities to set up and resolve the political deadlock in the name of safety and security of the whole city.

The letter says:

Hong Kong society is currently fractured, with deep divisions across social groups, political parties, and even amongst family and friends. The past week has seen a rapid escalation of violence and confrontation throughout Hong Kong: several universities are now under protestors’ control; on-campus hazardous materials have been taken; staff and students have left campus out of fear for their personal safety. These events are challenging our universities in the most fundamental way.

No political viewpoint gives a licence to damage property, employ physical threats, or use violence against individuals. It is regrettable that societal disagreement has led to university campuses becoming major political battlefields, and that the government response has so far not been effective. However, any demand that universities can simply fix the problem is disconnected from reality: these complicated and challenging situations neither originate from the Universities, nor can they be resolved through University disciplinary processes. They are reflections of Hong Kong-wide disagreement, and the government must take the lead with swift and concrete action to resolve this political deadlock and to restore safety and public order now.

Earlier in the day students manning No. 2 bridge in Sha Tin

Hong Kong is our home. We call on all quarters of society to work together to bring peace and order back to Hong Kong.

Prof. KUO Way, President, City University of Hong Kong
Prof. Roland T. CHIN President & Vice-Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University
Prof. Leonard CHENG, President, Lingnan University
Prof. Rocky S. TUAN, President & Vice-Chancellor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. Stephen CHEUNG, President, The Education University of Hong Kong
Prof. TENG Jin-Guang , President, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Prof. Wei SHYY, President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Prof. WONG Yuk-Shan, President, The Open University of Hong Kong
Prof. ZHANG Xiang, President & Vice-Chancellor, The University of Hong Kong
(Listed in alphabetical order of universities)

Earlier in the day a newspaper article talked about how the government was getting pressure from all sides, including the pro-establishment parties to do something to resolve the situation. Everyone is tired and frustrated by the government's inaction, just constantly condemning the protesters as rioters and how the violence needs to be stopped.

This only gives more license to the police to have their way with anyone, including bystanders, which in turn makes people even angrier. Surely the government must have figured this out by now.

Carrie Lam not very empathetic at town hall meeting

At lunchtime today scores of people came out not only in Central and Taikoo, but also Wong Chuk Hang and Kwun Tong. A lot of Hong Kong's population are angry with the government.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said that she is open to dialogue and yet she has not had engaged the public since her disastrous town hall meeting on September 26.

What is she waiting for?

The best way to diffuse tensions is to initiate dialogue but instead Lam would rather inspect trashed MTR stations than meet with people to hear their frustrations and fears. Did she think people would give up?

As someone who was directly involved in dealing with the Umbrella Movement five years ago, Lam hasn't learnt her lesson at all. She has just dismissed it as a blip in Hong Kong's history. For the rest of us, those 79 days were seared in our memories.

Civil service head Joshua Law sends warning to civil servants

Meanwhile civil servants may want to think twice about protesting. Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law Chi-kong wrote a letter to the 180,000 civil servants and warned they would face immediate suspension or other disciplinary action if they were arrested for taking part in unlawful activities.

"The government will not tolerate civil servants breaching the law," he wrote. "It would be difficult for the community to accept an arrested civil servant being allowed to continue to exercise the powers and functions of office.

"In this regard, we will interdict the officer in the public interest when an inquiry against him is being undertaken," he wrote.

If this letter was written a year ago, most people would agree. But given what has happened in the past five months, including a rally for civil servants to protest against the extradition bill, most residents would not mind if a civil servant was arrested and continued working -- until they were convicted.

What happened to following the tenet of "innocent until proven guilty"?

The polarization continues...

Police Logic Hardly Laser-Focused

Super cool light show using laser pointers on the Science Museum last night

At 6pm tonight, the president of the Baptist University Student Union Keith Fong Chung-yin was released from police custody, though he is still suffering from a fever. He was arrested on Tuesday night in Sham Shui Po for being in possession of 10 laser pointers.

On Wednesday the police held their daily press briefing and defended the arrest of Fong by describing the laser pointer as "laser guns". Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung of Police Public Relations Branch said the beams could "flash blind" someone and also cause serious eye injuries.

Police arrested student Keith Fong for having laser pointers

To make their point, the police demonstrated by pointing one of the laser pointers at a piece of paper no more than an arm's length away and it burned in 10 seconds.

During the protests no one is an arm's length away when using these laser pointers. If anything they are more than 20, 30 metres away.

However, the laser pointer they used in the demonstration is the SAME LASER POINTER that they had confiscated from 20-year-old Fong. In other words they tampered with the evidence.

When reporters at the press conference pointed this out, Tse assured them that the police carefully handles evidence in a specific detailed procedure. He added the laser pointers used last night at the Science Museum weren't as strong as Fong's.

Really? How do they know that? Did they check every single one?

And again -- why were they tampering with the evidence? When Fong was arrested, the laser pointers he bought did not have batteries in them. And now the police put batteries in them and used them to claim how dangerous they are.

Police used Fong's laser pointer to show how dangerous it is

How can the police prove that Fong was going to do something malicious with these laser pointers? In a video clip taken by a witness, Fong told the police he and his friends wanted to use them for stargazing.

But the police didn't buy his explanation and arrested Fong, which infuriated residents as well as staff and students at Baptist University, and that led to tear gas thrown at them at the Sham Shui Po police station...

Meanwhile protesters held their own press conference, the second one in two days. They wear hard hats and masks, and are from different age groups, to show it's not just young people out on the streets.

In their press conference today they said it is all and well for the police to demonstrate the effects of a laser pointer on a piece of paper, but how about demonstrating the effects of rubber bullets, bean bag rounds and sponge grenades within five metres.

We want to watch THAT demonstration!

Sales of laser pointers in Sham Shui Po are brisk

These last few days in Sham Shui Po, shops carrying laser pointers are having a bonanza, selling the cheaper ones for about HK$60 a piece to up to HK$150 each. Fong apparently got some quality ones, apparently spending HK$4,200 for 10 laser pointers.

A reporter tried to replicate the same demonstration the police did but was unable to start a fire on a piece of paper at the same distance using a similar laser pointer.

If these laser pointers are "laser guns", then why are shops in Hong Kong allowed to sell them?

The police's lack of logic is completely irrational and illogical. And they consider themselves "Asia's finest"???

Marching for Justice (Again)

A long procession of people in the law profession came out to march today

 

Today some 3,000 lawyers came out in the midday sun to participate in a silent march to protest the government's abuse of the rule of law in the past few weeks. This is the sixth time people in the law profession have come out to march since 1997, and the second time in two months on June 6.

A long steady stream of people in black suits and dresses walked from the Court of Final Appeal to the Department of Justice and demanded that Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah and Director of Prosecutions David Leung Cheuk-yin to come out to meet with them.

Martin Lee says no one is above the rule of law

However, they didn't come out (or maybe they were out for lunch?) and senior counsel and co-founder of the Civic Party Audrey Eu Yuet-mee suggested perhaps they were on strike which got cheers (or jeers) from the fellow marchers.

Several people made speeches, including Martin Lee Chu-ming.

"We are here to protect the rule of law. The rule of law means, most importantly, that we are all equal under the law," he said. "If people wearing black committed any criminal offenses, and you bring them to justice, that's fair. But why don't you do the same when the criminals are wearing white? It is in breach of the rule of law."

He was referring to the horrific and violent incident in Yuen Long on July 21 when men, some identified as triads, beat up commuters in the MTR station, some of whom had just come back from a protest march. Twenty-four of them were arrested for unlawful assembly but have yet to be charged.

This contrasts with 44 protesters who were charged with rioting on July 31, just days after the alleged incident.

Some 3,000 lawyers, prosecutors and students came out

Stephen Char Shik-ngor, a former investigator for the Independent Commission Against Corruption also voiced his concerns about how the Department of Justice is going about charging people.

"How can you charge people with rioting within 24 hours? Where have you got the evidence? While everybody saw on the TV the people beating up innocent people but they are not charged yet. So for the perception of the members of the public, this is selective prosecution," he said.

Some lawyers in the march are working pro bono for some of the protesters who are charged and urged others to volunteer their services as well. One local law firm that focuses on human rights issues has even published guidelines on its Facebook page, advising protesters what to do if they are arrested by the police, or are injured during the clashes with the authorities.

Hong Kong has devolved into practically a police state that the lawyers in today's march find it alarming.

"It has never happened before, and I think it is a very strong evidence that there has been a departure from normal procedures and guidelines," says Eu. "And for an important department like the Department of Justice -- I mean look at the word 'Justice' -- you really require the department always to be sticking to procedures, principles and due process. "

Last night in Sham Shui Po police station tear gas was fired

The highly respected former Executive Council member Denis Chan Khen-lee QC spoke in public since the protests began, urging the government to listen to the "silent scream" of the city's law profession.

"But we do not just scream. We want law, order, justice and peace," he said.

He added an independent investigation into the political crisis was necessary and warned that people in power are not above the rule of law. 

Meanwhile last night Baptist University student union president Keith Fong Chung-yin was arrested by the police in Sham Shui Po. His crime? Being in possession of 10 laser pointers. Where in the law is it a crime to have laser pointers that lecturers use?

No sooner had word gotten out that 300 residents and other concerned people come out to the Sham Shui Po police station to demand his release, including Baptist University President Roland Chin Ta-hong, and pan-democrat lawmaker Claudio Mo.

To poke fun at the police, a laser show at the Science Museum

However, when Mo was speaking to the gathered crowd, police began firing tear gas at them from inside the police station. That definitely inflamed the crowd and later on in social media people were making fun of the charges, saying pens and other stationary will be considered weapons as well.

Today the police claimed laser pointers were a weapon and demonstrated by shining it at very close range on a piece of paper that burned in 10 seconds. But someone on Twitter remarked that to get that close to a police officers, one would be tear gassed first...

So in protest, tonight a laser show was held outside the Science Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui. People shone laser pointers at it and sang music related to lasers.

Gotta love Hong Kong and Cantonese humour to make this crisis more bearable!

Another 450kg Bomb Found in Wan Chai

A bomb disposal officer looks at the second bomb found this afternoon

This afternoon it was deja-vu all over again in Wan Chai -- a second World War II bomb the same size as the one found on the weekend, was found 10 metres from the first one.

People had to be evacuated from the area again, resulting in shops, restaurants, offices and hotels clearing out for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Americans dropped bombs around Victoria Harbour in 1945

However this one, near the intersection of Tonnochy Road and Convention Avenue will be harder for bomb disposal experts to diffuse because the fuse mechanism is severely damaged and is in a harder to reach location.

In the meantime historians have surmised the American-made AN-M65 explosives were likely dropped by American warplanes during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, which was from January 1942 to August 1945.

Military historian Dave Macri believes the bombs landed close together because of a "dive bombing tactic" that was widely used by US Navy aircraft during the war. A squadron of six to 10 bombers would dive down towards the target, descending quickly from 10,000 feet to 2,000 feet and dumping the bombs when they were at their lowest point.

The University of Hong Kong professor said, "One [bomber] would come in, and would immediately be followed by another one," which may explain why the two explosive devices were found so close to each other.

The US Air Force strikes at Kowloon docks in 1944

By dropping the bombs at a lower altitude, the pilots could identify their targets more accurately and have more success at blowing them up, Macri said.

During World War II, Victoria Harbour was heavily bombed by US forces who were trying to destroy Japanese military shipping and docking facilities, while Admiralty was another major target because the British Royal Naval base was taken over by the Japanese, according to Kwong Chi-man, a history professor at Baptist University.

It just makes you wonder -- how many other bombs are lying underground?!

The Risks of Not Training

Tens of thousands of people compete in the 10K race in six heats

Following the Standard Chartered Marathon yesterday, one woman died this afternoon after she finished running the 10K race and collapsed.

The 52-year-old woman was rushed to hospital and then died, with no updates on the cause of death yet.

She is the third person within five years to die. In 2015, a 24-year-old died in hospital after collapsing 100 metres from the finish line in a 10K run. And in 2014, a 26-year-old man died moments after completing the half marathon.

It is crucial for runners to train even for the 10K race

After his death, marathon organizers increased the number of medical staff on site from 700 to 800.

But is that really the solution?

Part of the problem is that there is a number of people who haven't trained at all for the 10K run. While marathon organizers say it isn't feasible to screen the health of participants, the onus is really up to the runners. Surely they must know what a 10K run involves? If not, they need to ask someone who does, and see if it is something they can accomplish and if so, find out how to train for it.

In 2014, Baptist University conducted a study that found one-third of the event's 10K runners didn't train at all for the race in the 12 months leading to the big event.

Another one third trained for the run once a week.

Dr Lobo Louie Hung-tak, who lead the study, said training three times a week -- 40 to 48 kilometres of running -- were recommended to reduce the risk of injury for the 10K event, while half and full marathon participants should train five to six times a week.

He said insufficient training could lead to not only injury, but possibly death.

A 2014 study found 1/3 of runners didn't train for the 10K

"It's like a car that's being pushed to keep going even when the fuel tank is at empty," he said.

"In some serious cases, runners can collapse, be in a state of shock, start hallucinating or fall into a coma."

If that warning isn't shocking enough to get people to seriously consider training, or have second thoughts about running the race, I don't know what is.

The entrance fee for the 10K run is about HK$350 which is very reasonable, but people need to take a race of this distance with some seriousness.

While it is thoughtful of organizers to boost the number of first aid responders along the three routes for the 10K, half marathon and full marathon, it is really up to the runners to know their athletic ability.

There are fatalities at marathons around the world -- usually the full marathon, people collapsing at or near the finish line. But 42km is an extreme distance for the vast majority of us. That doesn't mean that all of us can run 10K -- we can, but we should train for it.

To not train for any race is wishful thinking and disrespecting one's body by pushing it to extremes it is not prepared for.

It would be interesting to know if other 10K races around the world have seen serious incidents. If it's only in Hong Kong, then there is a serious problem about health education in the city.