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| Carrie Lam leads the toast to the 71st Chinese national day |
Although Civil Human Rights Front was banned from holding a march today to protest the 12 people detained by the mainland, some brave people came out anyway in Causeway Bay to voice their dissent against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.
The police were prepared -- sending out 6,000 officers as a deterrent and were armed with the usual tools of tear gas, pepper spray and such, and even a water cannon was parked nearby. They chose their usual method of trying to shut things down before they escalated, though the protests happened over several hours and by 10pm this evening at least 86 people were arrested, 74 of which were for illegal assembly, the rest for not social distancing.
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| At least 86 people were arrested today |
The double standards are too obvious to ignore.
Meanwhile protesters in Causeway Bay shouted slogans like "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time", and would dissipate when the police approached them. One young man took out his recorder and played Glory to Hong Kong, though he was taken by police later for questioning.
One senior walked around with a wooden giraffe on a platform with wheels. He called it a "handsome horse" in front of riot police. There is a Chinese idiom of calling a deer a horse, which means criticizing those who fabricate the facts.
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| Causeway Bay was crawling with police officers |
Even a Kim Jong-un impersonator, known as Howard X made an appearance with an inflatable missile. On it he taped a picture of President Xi Jinping with his head shaped like the coronavirus and a sign that read: "F*** the Communist Party".
All those people who were arrested will have to go through the justice system and by the time they are in front of the judge, there will not be enough evidence to prosecute them and the judge will probably dismiss the case.
Why waste everyone's time and effort?
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| Rupert Dover (in white) was on honours list |
Earlier in the day as part of the national day celebrations, the city's honour list since 1997 was revealed at a record-breaking 687 people; usually it's around 200, though in 2009, there was a record 444.
Of those honoured, 94 were police officers, including former police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung. Assistant commissioners Rupert Dover and David Jordan were recognized. Dover was one of six senior officers leading the police ground response on June 12 last year, and ordered the firing of tear gas as crowds of protesters against the extradition bill, pushed towards the Legislative Council complex.
Another commended officer was Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung, who was grilled by reporters regularly for the force's handling of protesters.
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| Pansy Ho last year speaking at the UN |
Other notables include Bernard Chan Charnwut who is a member of the Executive Council; Pansy Ho Chiu-king, the late Stanley Ho's daughter and last year she spoke to the UN Human Rights Council about the government's handling of the protests; Charles Li Xiaojia who recently announced his resignation as head of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Maestro Jaap Van Zweden.
It is interesting to note there are 143 healthcare workers honoured for their work in battling the coronavirus pandemic, but none of them were the main faces in the media advising the government. I checked the list, and people like Dr David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University, University of Hong Kong's Dr Gabriel Leung and Dr Yuen Kwok-yung (previously awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star), or even Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection.
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| Those gaudy wristbands to wear during quarantine |
However, Simon Wong Kwong-yeung was recognized for developing the clunky (and heavy) e-wristband for people to be monitored while doing home quarantine.
Go figure.
