The Blame Game Continues

Lam says primary schools to close, more vaccinations needed

The Hong Kong government is definitely terrified of the Omicron virus and after three kindergarten children were infected by family members, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor decided all primary schools will be closed from Friday, while secondary schools will stay open.

Sinovac vaccines will be made available to children as young as five, but other pharmaceutical companies have not filed their paperwork to apply to be administered in children. Surely there should be a choice for parents to decide which vaccine they want their kids to have.

Young children are back to online learning

Today the Centre for Health Protection reported 21 new cases, eight of which are local. There are concerns there could be silent transmissions within Tuen Mun, making it a hotspot now, along with Sha Tin, Causeway Bay and North Point. 

However the good thing is that people are more motivated to FINALLY get vaccinated and now 75 percent of the population have had at least one shot. It seems the walk-in line just for those 60 years old and above is a good motivator.

Meanwhile the birthday-gate continues, with Lam believes the Spanish restaurant, Reserva Iberica in Wan Chai may have operated "well beyond its capacity".

"I'm sure the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will shortly release some preliminary investigations about the restaurant, whether this restaurant could actually legally operate with this sort of dinner gathering," she said.

The restaurant can have 240 people for a banquet

Reserva Iberica is a Type D restaurant, where the FEHD says it can have a maximum of 240 people at a banquet, and at least two-thirds of the guests must be vaccinated with at least one dose.

So far about 200 people have been identified as being related to the party, so unless it goes over 240 people, then it breaches the rules the government set. And were at least two-thirds vaccinated?

One thing the dining establishment could be faulted on is not making sure every single guest used the Leave Home Safe app, which is another requirement of a Type D restaurant.

Why is Lam trying to pile the blame on the restaurant, and also Cathay Pacific?

How about getting your own people in line for not using the Leave Home Safe app in the first place, and not wearing masks when they were not eating or drinking?

Hong Kong now has 75 percent with one jab

In any event what's done is done and now the city must do its best to quickly clamp down on Omicron. The best way to do it is through vaccination and social-distancing. There was also talk of allowing those who are fully inoculated to use a vaccine passport and have privileges like dine in restaurants or go to cinemas. 

There's enough punishment for all of us, why not reward those who already got the jab and already lining up for boosters?

In order to nudge people, they need an incentive and a vaccine passport would be a good way to increase the number of inoculations in no time...

June 4 Museum Raided, Leaders Charged

The head of the Goddess of Democracy goes into police van

The June 4 Museum was already preparing for this day. 

This morning the National Security Department raided the museum in Mongkok and took lots of material from the place, from presentations of a timeline recording what happened in 1989 in Beijing and in 2019 in Hong Kong, a large cartoon of the Goddess of Democracy, as well as of the late Szeto Wah and former Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang.

FEHD officers shut down museum in June

It will be interesting to see how these cartoons will be used as evidence in court.

The ironic thing is that the museum was already shut down since June 2 this year, when the Food and Hygiene Department claimed there was a complaint about the venue not having the relevant license under the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance, as required for public exhibitions. The museum was fined HK$8,000 (US$1,028).

Once the authorities removed all the items it deemed necessary for their investigation work, they changed the locks on the museum to prevent anyone related to the place to get back in.

Meanwhile the group that previously organized the Tiananmen Square candlelight vigils has been charged, along with three of its leaders with inciting subversion against state power under the national security law.

Cartoons of Wah and Zhao were also carted away

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China on Thursday evening said it was told by police the justice department would charge chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, and vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung, as well as the group itself. 

In addition, Chow along with standing committee members Leung Kam-wai, Tsui Hon-kwong, Tang Ngok-kwan and Chan To-wai were also to be charged with refusing to provide information requested by the national security police.

A police spokesman said HK$2.2 million worth of the alliance's assets were frozen in connection with the case. Documents, computers and promotional materials were also seized. It is believed the police is looking for financial records connected to the group's activities with the New School for Democracy, the Asia Democracy Network, the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group and other organizations funded by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy.

A timeline of 1989 and 2019 was confiscated

Nevertheless Chow is defiant. When she heard she would be charged with "incitement to subversion" she was relieved.

"We should not be dwelling on accusations like 'foreign agent'. But rather, the focus should be on whether there should be accountability for the massacre, and if the one-party dictatorship should be put to an end.

"Let's face these spontaneous demands from the people head-on, and see which side reason is in favour with. With the spirit of those who departed on June 4, how dare we back down? The debate is just about to begin."

 

June Fourth Museum Shuts Indefinitely

Fearing it is breaking the law, the museum has shut for now

Following the visit of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officers to the June Fourth Museum yesterday afternoon claiming the premises did not have an entertainment license, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China announced it was closing the museum until further notice to seek legal advice and protect the safety of its staff and visitors.

FEHD officers visited the museum yesterday

The organizers thanked the 550 people who visited the museum since Sunday when it reopened. 

Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong the alliance's secretary, said it was unlikely the museum would reopen in time for Friday, the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

"We still hope every citizen in Hong Kong can use their own way to commemorate June 4. We certainly think [if] we can maintain our strength at this particular critical moment, in the future we can definitely continue our struggle," Tsoi said.

An elderly man surnamed Ng tried to visit the museum today only to find it closed and said it was "regrettable".

"Every year I go to Victoria Park to attend the June 4th vigil. But I can't this year. So I thought I would visit the museum today to remember the event as I had time. But again I can't, it's very regrettable. June 4 is a big incident to Chinese people. I will never forget it. I hope the movement will be vindicated," he said.

In the meantime Hong Kong is on a 40-day streak of zero local cases of Covid-19 and yet the public cannot gather outside in large numbers due to the pandemic. To ensure that doesn't happen, some 3,000 police officers will be hovering around Victoria Park in case anyone (in black) does something. 

The inability to remember such an important event that has been openly marked for the past 31 years is hard to comprehend and accept. 

It will only build more frustration and anger, simmering once again below the surface...

Remembering June 4 in Precarious Position

The June Fourth Museum has updated its exhibition

The June Fourth Museum in Kowloon is facing more pressure from the authorities, now accusing the organizers of the place of running an entertainment venue that it does not have the proper license to do so.

Around 2pm this afternoon, officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department showed up at the museum and left leaving their contacts as those in charge were not there at the time.

The visit from the FEHD officers comes days before the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and the museum displays time lines, items from the historical event, and copies of news reports from that time among others.

Visitors laid flowers in tribute to the victims

"FEHD officers had never paid this place a visit before, and we have held similar exhibitions for 10 years... We still have to look into this, but we can't rule out that political reasons are involved," said Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, the secretary for the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

In response to media inquiries, the FEHD said it has begun enforcement work after an investigation, responding to recent complaints.

The department said licenses were required for entertainment venues that are open to the public -- including those that are admission-free -- and that applies to exhibitions as well.

It said according to the law, no one can keep or use any place of public entertainment without a license.

The timing of this enforcement is interesting... why not sort this out earlier?

Those convicted of not having the proper license can face a fine of up to HK$25,000 and imprisonment for six months, and a further fine of HK$2,000 a day for each day the offense continues.

For now the museum remains open with a steady stream of visitors looking at the newest displays and laying down flowers against a background of Tiananmen Square with the Goddess of Democracy as a tribute to the victims.

Keeping count of attendance to 2019...

Tsoi has also said the group is not going to move the ceremony online on Friday, worried it may find itself in legal troubles and doesn't want to get members of the public in legal cross hairs either.

"We will not even ask people to turn on their lights at a specific time on Friday, but only call on them to commemorate the crackdown with their own ways at the time of their choice," he said.

Instead, Tsoi said, the alliance will only broadcast clips on Friday featuring its statement, and speeches by the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of parents who lost children in the Beijing crackdown 32 years ago.

He said so far about 500 people have made bookings to visit in the coming days. 

"We can understand that some people may have a sense of helplessness under the prevailing political sentiment. But we will continue our work," Tsoi said.

"We are facing huge pressure. But it is not the end of the world. Maybe what we need to do now is to consolidate our strength, instead of having a head-on confrontation [with the authorities]. We trust that Hong Kong people are not giving up June 4 so easily."

Remembering June 4 Not Tolerated in HK

Lee Cheuk-yan (left) promotes June 4 in the alliance's stall

For the past 32 years, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Movements in China has had a stall at Victoria Park during the Lunar New Year market in Victoria Park. Even last year it was able to sell flowers and raise awareness about the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989.

But this year the stall was shut down before it could even begin doing any business.

Just after midnight Saturday morning, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department terminated the contract for the stall, saying they displayed banners irrelevant to the selling of flowers.

For the first time in 32 years the stall is shut down

The alliance had put up a banner that said: "Vindicate June 4, fight to the end".

The supposedly offensive banners were covered with a cloth, but were light up so they were still seen in the dark.

However, by around 8.30am the stall was cordoned off with metal barricades and tape, hours after the warning was given, and nothing was removed from the stall.

Alliance chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and secretary Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong refused to leave.

"Our flower stall has a history of 32 years, and we have never stopped expressing our demands," Lee said. "Our strategy is to express our demands through flower sales, hoping that the public will remember our existence."

The group has five "operational goals": the release of dissidents, vindication of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, accountability for the crackdown, the end to one-party rule in mainland China, and to build a democratic country.

Lee said he was saddened by the "suppression" as their stall could still operate last year even though they had posted messages such as "Garden of freedom". Yet the authorities could no longer accommodate a small flower stall expressing views this year, he said.

Stall was vacated after contract was terminated

Tsoi said it was unreasonable for the FEHD to shut them down without giving a proper explanation as to why they were shutting down the alliance's stall.

Unable to sell the flowers, the alliance said they would hand out the flowers to community workers so that the blooms would not go to waste. 

In response to the case, the FEHD spokesman said the fair was a venue for selling Lunar New Year flowers, and the agreement signed between the department and the alliance clearly stated that the stall could only be used to sell and promote flowers. 

The spokesman added the department would take appropriate action to implement the agreement when necessary.

So it is clear the red line was crossed this time with the alliance. This was probably its test to see how much the authorities was willing to withstand in terms of remembering June 4, and now there is zero tolerance.

Perhaps the alliance should have been more clever in its packaging of the flowers, perhaps inserting secret messages in them or just sold flowers.

Now we know talking or promoting the remembrance of June 4 is not allowed, pandemic or not, as part of the ongoing mainlandization of Hong Kong.

Picking on the Little Person -- Again

Many elderly people would rather collect cardboard than get handouts

It seems the Hong Kong authorities really like to bully those beneath them. This time officers from the Food and Environmental Health Hygiene Department (FEHD) arrested and fined an elderly woman for selling a piece of cardboard to a domestic helper for HK$1.

The woman, surnamed Chu, sold the piece of cardboard last Sunday and then six department officers approached her and charged her. Chu was taken to the department office and later the police station, where she said she was released on bail for HK$30, leaving her with only HK$4 left in her wallet.

A protest was held today for a woman fined by the FEHD

A group of 30 people protested at the Central Western District Environmental Hygiene office today. The organizer of the event, a man surnamed Au said: "The behaviour of the officers is cold-blooded. We urge the department to drop the charges, return the cart it confiscated from Chu and stop all these actions targeting grass-roots workers."

Lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick was also at the protest and said a lot of elderly people were trying to make a living from collecting recyclables like cardboard. He criticized the government for focusing on giant infrastructure projects instead of helping those who desperately need help.

Civic Party Eastern District councillor Lai Chi-keong, who exposed the incident last week after the woman sought help from him, said she had refused to apply for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance because she did not way to rely on others.

The incident is similar to the cleaner who was fined last year

He added she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and gastritis, and had turned down donations and assistance offered by many after the incident came to light.

This episode is a reminder of when the FEHD fined a 71-year-old cleaner HK$1,500 last year for allegedly dumping water on the street in Wan Chai. A photo of her bursting into tears went viral online and the authorities later withdrew the fine.

Can the authorities please use some common sense and compassion? Many elderly on the streets collecting cans and cardboard are too proud to receive handouts. They are not the ones who should be penalized unless they are breaking serious hygiene regulations!