Agnes Chow Released from Prison

Former Demosisto Agnes Chow released from prison today

A bit of good news this morning -- Agnes Chow Ting was released from prison after serving almost seven months for her role in a 15-hours siege of the Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21, 2019 during the anti-government protests.

At around 10am the 24-year-old emerged from Tai Lam Centre for Women in Tuen Mun and was mobbed by almost 100 reporters while a small group of supporters shouted, "Chow Ting add oil!" before getting into a white van.

There was a media frenzy of about 100 reporters 

Reporters noted Chow was much thinner than before and she admitted so in her Instagram post a few hours later.

"The pain that lasted for six months and 20 days has come to an end. What comes next is some good rest and recovery for the body. That's because my body has become really weak and slim during this period of time," she said, adding her comment should be read with a bitter smile.

She was originally jailed last December for 10 months for illegal assembly over the siege of the Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21, 2019. Her early release was due to her good behaviour. She was initially sent to Lo Wu Correctional Institution, but was later transferred to an isolation cell at the Tai Lam facility.

Chow pleaded guilty to charges of incitement and taking part in an unauthorized assembly. Her colleagues, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 24, and Ivan Lam Long-yin, 26, were also imprisoned over the gathering. 

Chow, Lam, Wong convicted of illegal assembly

The only one among the trio without a previous criminal record, Chow burst into tears in the dock on learning the community service order her lawyers were seeking had been rejected. She has been in custody since entering her guilty plea on November 23.

However Chow is not completely free -- she was also charged under the national security law for colluding with foreign forces on the same day Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was arrested for colluding with foreign forces by calling for sanctions.

So far the police have granted Chow bail and not yet charged her, they still have her passport.

Meanwhile this evening part of the city was crawling with police, with the second anniversary of June 12, 2019, when protesters surrounded the Legislative Council in a bid to prevent the second reading of the now withdrawn extradition bill.  

Protesters at Wan Chai police station June 21, 2019

At least 2,000 officers were on the streets, at one point blocking the Cross Harbour Tunnel to check cars heading to Hong Kong island, and and some even entered two shopping malls, one in Mongkok, the other in Causeway Bay.

Anniversaries will not be forgotten but at the same time the police show up in force creating more tension... never ending...

 

Picture of the Day: National Security Education Day

First I heard of it, but 2021 will be the sixth year of the event

 

The other day my walking buddy took me on a path to walk by the Cross Harbour Tunnel and it was there that we saw some new billboard signs.

All of them were covered with messages saying: "April 15 National Security Education Day".

It was the first I had heard of it, but I just looked it up and it has been happening since 2015 when China promulgated the state security law.

Pro-Beijing organizations participate in symposiums to learn more about the law, but perhaps we didn't really pay attention until now because it was sprung upon us late last June.

And to mark this year's event, five disciplined services, including police and customs officers will perform the Chinese military's "goose-stepping" style of ceremonial marching instead of the British foot drills.

"Performing British foot drills when promoting the importance of national security does not seem right. After all, we have been handed over for nearly 24 years," one top officer said, referring to the city's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

"The public performance on National Security Education Day this year is a good start to show the unity of the disciplinary forces, as some already plan to infuse the Chinese style into routing training."

In the Chinese military style of "goose-stepping", troops keep their legs rigidly straight when lifting them off the ground, while their arms swing at a 90-degree angle in front of their chest.

It sounds like a very uncomfortable way to march, but gotta integrate with China, right?

But yes, National Security Education Day. We'll be watching for it.

Picture of the Day: Cross Harbour Tunnel Overpass

The empty overpass at the cross harbour tunnel towards Poly U

This morning I went to Hung Hom to attend the funeral of my parents' friend.

The funeral parlour is conveniently located near Hung Hom station and the bus stop for cross harbour tunnel buses. So when the service ended at 10.30am, I needed to take a cross harbour tunnel bus to get to the office.

Usually the overpass has lots of people walking across it at all hours, but this morning there was no one.

The overpass is lined with yellow water barricades to deter anyone from doing anything. But to see no one walking along the passageway was very eerie, following protesters' clashes with police in mid-November that led to a standoff for almost two weeks at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Yesterday the campus reopened certain sections of the campus that have been cleaned up. Other areas will be opened in phases later this month and in January depending on how the clean-up goes and safety inspections.

The second semester will start January 13, though the first two weeks will be scheduled with exams that were supposed to be taken last semester, and then classes start again February 3.

Picture of the Day: Where's the Traffic?

The near empty Harcourt Road in Wan Chai towards Causeway Bay

This afternoon I had a lunch appointment followed by a meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong which is above Kowloon Station. I didn't finish until very late afternoon and had to get back to the office and so I took a taxi.

For traffic at 4.40pm there weren't that many cars on the road along the Western Tunnel, and then on Hong Kong Island we went along Lung Wo Road, passing by the Central Harbour front area where Clockenflap would have been set up by now if it hadn't cancelled, then cut onto Harcourt Road.

This main artery is usually choc a block with cars inching towards the Cross Harbour Tunnel, but since it has been blocked for a week by protesters, traffic was amazingly light. I could hardly believe it that I had to take a picture.

But once we got onto the Canal Road flyover, the regular traffic jam was back, slowly going up the on ramp, then passing Times Square before getting off. There were so many cars going towards the shopping mall that the taxi driver dropped me off a block away to avoid getting stuck.

The closure of the Cross Harbour Tunnel has affected hundreds of thousands of commuters daily and it is unclear when it will be reopened. But for the rest of us, having feeder routes to the tunnel completely empty have been a strange but welcome relief.