HK Police Step Up Violence

Police dressed as protesters hit people with extendable batons in the mall

The "shopping protests" have changed tactics to focus on shops catering to parallel traders, those who buy goods in Hong Kong and then take them across the border to sell at higher prices for a profit.

This has been going on for years and this was particularly egregious in 2012 to the point where districts near the mainland border ran out of goods like milk powder and it had to be rationed to two cans per customer. Back then parallel traders were called "locusts" for taking everything and leaving nothing behind.

People protest against parallel traders in Sheung Shui

So to put more pressure on the Hong Kong government to resolve the political crisis that has gripped the city for seven months, protesters targeted several shopping malls, including Landmark North shopping centre in Sheung Shui, the last district before the border with China.

The protesters shouted, "Five demands, not one less", "disband the police force", and also "go back to the mainland", aimed at Chinese daytrippers and parallel traders. This forced almost all the shops in the mall to close down for fear of potential vandalism.

But the protests also attracted the police, who stepped up their tactics in a more brutal way.

They dressed up like protesters and then without warning whipped out extendable batons and began attacking and arresting people. The riot police in uniform were nearby and also had no qualms beating up protesters until blood spilled.

There is a video on Twitter showing a young man being excessively beaten by riot police in Landmark North, and there is blood on one of the police shields.

This is the bloody arrest I was filming with @XinqiSu when I was pepper-sprayed, during a ‘Shop with You’ protest at Landmark North, Sheung Shui. Note the bloodied riot police shield. pic.twitter.com/MxeyRuIl1z

— Daniel Suen (@suen_daniel) December 28, 2019

 

Is this really necessary? Why not just arrest them and save energy to catch the next protester? Another brutal tactic of unleashing pepper spray at point blank range is also uncalled for.

This stepped up brutality not only further contravenes the Hong Kong police force's code of conduct, but shows officers are willing to use more violence to subdue protesters.

Is shooting pepper spray really necessary at close range?

Since Beijing has endorsed Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor during her latest duty visit earlier this month, it seems her way of quelling the protesters is with more violence.

This is totally outrageous. 

This is how Lam and police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung think they can end the protests?

While wounds may eventually heal, trauma does not go away and these shocking images will infuriate more people to come out to yet another large-scale protest march on January 1.

The people are not cowering. It's going to be a long fight.

Breakthrough at Last

Anger against parallel traders have escalated to protests and pepper spray

Finally after years of complaints that have led to protests and physical altercations, the Shenzhen municipal government has announced today that permanent residents visiting Hong Kong will be limited to one a week.

It is predicted this latest measure, that has yet to be announced when it will be implemented, will cut the number if visits by this group of people by 30 percent and crackdown on rampant parallel trading.

A notice circulated on the internet said that an urgent meeting had been held in Shenzhen at 11am on Saturday on a decision by the State Council to approve an "adjustment" in the number of trips a multiple-entry permit holder could make to Hong Kong.

The online announcement was confirmed by both Shenzhen police and Hong Kong government sources.

Parallel traders will have to reduce their visits to Hong Kong

If a multiple-entry permit holder fails to visit Hong Kong in a single week, the quota could not be used for future visits, so the maximum number of visits each year is 52.

The Hong Kong government said it had submitted the proposal to the central government to adjust the multiple-entry policy a few months ago. "Any adjustment to the policy is pending the central government's announcement," it said in a statement.

It is a relief to hear this is finally happening, though this proposal should have been submitted a few years ago when some Hong Kong people began calling mainlanders "locusts" for snapping up all kinds of goods to take home.

We have to wonder if the Hong Kong government thought this tension would blow over, or was in denial this problem would escalate to skirmishes with both police and parallel traders. Or did was Beijing not interested in entertaining this request?

Nevertheless we're glad someone is finally listening and will soon implement what we hope will be the beginning of other measures to reduce tensions between mainlanders and locals in the city.

Sensitive Audience

Many mainland tourists come to Hong Kong to shop, but how many is enough?

In Hong Kong everyone likes to complain, but no one wants to do anything and bear the consequences.

This time it's the numbers of mainland tourists in Hong Kong that topped 40 million last year.

After hearing about the erupted tensions in the media, protests and numerous letters to the editor, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has floated a trial balloon of perhaps cutting the number of mainland visitors by 20 percent.

The effect was immediate, with shares of retailers and property developers taking a hit.

But this is just an idea, folks, as Leung reiterated. It is not actual policy yet! The fine print has yet to be worked out, if this cut is going to be realized.

Many are calling for the government to only allow permit holders to come into Hong Kong once a day, which would effectively cut the number of parallel day traders by an estimate of about 25 percent and the volume of products they buy, mostly in places like Sheung Shui.

A number of locals have protested about "locusts" in the city

These people are not bona fide tourists, as they don't stay overnight nor visit any attractions. For these day traders, it's all about fulfilling demand for "real products" -- across the border.

But groups like the Hong Kong Retail Management Association warned that cutting the number of visitors would affect the job security of the 267,000 sales work force; it instead encouraged the government to build more shopping malls to ease congestion in other shopping districts. This would take at least two to three years and with the labour shortage in the construction industry maybe four to five years?

Some retailers like Prince Jewellery & Watch completely depend on mainland business, with its chief executive Jimmy Tang citing 90 percent of its customers are from China. Is it really true that almost all of its customers are mainlanders? Where do locals buy jewellery now?

This knee-jerk reaction to Leung's proposal is ridiculous and shows how sensitive people are. They don't want so many mainlanders in Hong Kong, but if the number of mainland tourists is cut, they worry about their livelihoods.

So what does Hong Kong want? It can't have it both ways.

Leung is trying to show that he's listening to the people, and yet the stock market reacts negatively to his intentions.

Just shows Hong Kong is a tough crowd. Nothing pleases them and yet they sit there and complain about the situation.

No wonder Beijing thinks Hong Kong people are like little children...

Escalating Anti-Locust Behaviour

Lines like this on Canton Road are common with a particular clientele in mind

The anti-locust brigade is out in force again.

Yesterday some 100 protesters marched from the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui to Canton Road and got a lot of attention.

The beginning of the march was already tense with protesters clashing with people opposing the demonstration and police had to intervene.

Then along Canton Road which is lined with luxury brands such as Hermes, Chanel and Gucci, the protesters held up signs that said "go back to China" and "reclaim Hong Kong" or carried colonial flags as a symbol of their mistrust of the Chinese government.

Things got uglier when protesters booed or hurled verbal insults at mainland tourists passing by. The atmosphere was so tense that some shops decided to close.

Some mainland tourists were either surprised by Hong Kong people's supposedly "civilized" behaviour, others disappointed their tourist dollars were not welcome here.

Senior Hong Kong government officials saw pictures of the protest and were mortified, calling it "regrettable" and that mainland tourists had been "humiliated" and how it tarnished Hong Kong's image as an international city.

"The harassment of the tourists on Canton Road is very regrettable," said Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung. "Hong Kong has been very friendly not only to our tourists, but to other people conducting business here. This sort of harassment should not be repeated in Hong Kong."

Meanwhile Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok condemned the "humiliation" of mainland visitors and that some shops were forced to close.

"The protesters have affected the business activities in the area, as well as the public's activities here," he said.

And Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen was reportedly "shocked" when he saw the protest covered on TV.

The response of these government officials further proves they are definitely living in a bubble.

The anti-mainland sentiment has been simmering for years and the term "locusts" came out just over two years ago when Hong Kong people crowd-sourced enough money to put a full-page ad in Apple Daily openly describing mainlanders as this kind of insect using up goods and services meant for locals.

At that time the Hong Kong government did nothing to quell the tensions and instead stood by as landlords continue to be greedy by kicking out local businesses and inviting international chain stores to be tenants.

The authorities have made no effort to bridge the gap between locals and mainlanders, only using the reasoning that they boost the tourism sector in the city, but in fact the money goes to the headquarters of international stores and not locals.

And so it is actually shocking and disappointing to see senior government officials react this way, as if they didn't see protests like this coming at all.

Things are only going to get worse if the government continues to be blind to the reality of the situation. While verbal attacks are a form of assault, tensions need to be de-escalated soon, or physical attacks may be next.