Carrie Lam Urges Youth to Change System from Within

Lam on RTHK on devoting 41 years to public service

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor says young people can create change from within the system, much like she did, looking back on her 41 years of public service, all the way back to when she was a student activist.

She said this during an episode on RTHK's series Overview Policy, a program dedicated to reviewing her administration's track record since 2017.

Lam (circled) says she was a student activist

The episode was filmed before she fractured her elbow after a fall at Government House last week.

Lam said she was satisfied with her administration's efforts to give Hong Kong's young people a greater voice in local affairs, noting they had recruited them to serve as members of government advisory bodies.

"[These young people] are of very high quality, and they do care very much about Hong Kong. What we should do is to promote that caring attitude among our young people. If you care about Hong Kong, you won't do anything that will ruin Hong Kong," she said apparently alluding to the 2019 anti-government protests.

She recalled being a student activist in her university days.

"If I wanted to push for change in society, there were two paths for me to take when I left university 41 years ago. One was for me to [fight for ideals] from outside [the government], as a social worker, or whatever. The other was to join the establishment.

These students from 2019 were activists too

"And I believe that if I had the heart to serve the community, and I had the commitment and held a proactive attitude, I would be able to get things done. And the path I have taken over the past 41 years showed my idea was practicable.

"I hope more young people can have that belief."

Indeed, that's what many young people did, after the 2014 Umbrella Movement -- they actively established political parties and ran for the legislative council in 2016 and district councils in 2019.

They tried to create change from within. And then what happened?

Many of them were disqualified one way or another from Legco.

In the 2019 District Council elections, 17 out of 18 districts were pro-democratic (388 vs 39 pro-establishment). And then after the national security law was implemented in 2020, over 70 percent of district councillors resigned or were disqualified.

Wong tried to change the system from within too

Some people on social media sarcastically saying to Lam: "They tried to work from within. And then y'all disqualified them. And now they're either in jail or exiled. Remember? Or did you just mean, "Just agree with me and the changes I want to make?"

Everyone cares about Hong Kong. Everyone is of a very high quality or they wouldn't be here.

After Apple Daily, Stand News Might be Next

A vendor spotted selling back copies of Apple Daily today

 

People are still reeling from the loss of Apple Daily.

A friend told me the other day, whenever she wanted to find out the latest news, she automatically turned to the Apple Daily app on her phone and then realized it was blank. Now my friend, along with millions of others are wondering what news media they can read now. 

A mini version of Apple Daily (right)

This weekend some news stands sold back copies of Apple Daily to the delight of souvenir hunters, while others got really creative and made mini copies of the last edition of the paper. "Easier to bring along when you move. Remind your kids about Apple Daily," one sign says.

However, that newspaper is not the only one that is vulnerable -- Stand News may be the next target.

Today the popular pro-democracy web media, which was founded after the 2014 Umbrella protests, announced it has taken a number of measures to protect itself, its staff and readers. 

It will remove all opinion pieces and commentaries published in May or earlier, and will only consider re-posting with the consent of the authors, while news reporting has remain unchanged.

However, six of the parent company's eight directors have resigned, including barrister Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, singer Denise Ho Wan-see, and columnist Joseph Lian Yizheng.

Two founding directors, Tony Tsoi Tung-ho and chief editor Chung Pui-kuen will stay on.

While Stand News relies on subscriptions and donations to operate, it has said it will stop its monthly membership sponsorship scheme, and stop receiving donations.

Stand News is trying to mitigate possible attacks

"We have enough money to run for another nine to 12 months. If necessary, we will seek help again from Hongkongers in future," Stand News said.

It has terminated the employment contracts of its journalists to protect them and compensated them with higher salaries than legally required. The vast majority will continue to work for Stand News.

Defending press freedom these days requires courage. And fearlessness.

The Deathwatch for Apple Daily Has Begun

Apple Daily just marked its 26th anniversary on Sunday

The end of Apple Daily is nigh. 

It may come as early as Saturday if the newspaper's management is unable to persuade the Security Bureau to unfreeze its accounts in order to pay its staff.

One wonders how prepared founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was for this possible scenario -- that three of Next Digital's companies would be caught in the national security law web, and the paper's editor in chief and publisher would be charged with colluding with foreign forces, like himself.

Lai with his newspaper when he started in 1995

Twenty-six years ago, Lai was a brash outsider who threw lots of money into creating a newspaper which shocked the media establishment. How could someone who made money selling T-shirts and jeans know how to run a newspaper?

He started off slashing the price of the paper so cheaply that one would be a fool not to buy it for a few days to see if they liked it or not. His newspaper war got him a lot of attention from critics and fans. 

The paper's colourful look was modeled after USA Today, and it was called Apple Daily as in the forbidden fruit in The Bible -- if Adam and Eve did not eat it, there would be no evil and news.

Soon the paper became known for its paparazzi coverage of celebrities, hiding in the bushes to get a shot of an actor or singer caught with their lover. Apple Daily was also an ambulance chaser, listening in on the police radio frequency to find out about car accidents and such and were usually the first on the scene to get gruesome photos.

The police raided the office again last week

Apple Daily was also a fierce critic of the government, and by extension China due to Lai's political leanings. In 2003 it encouraged people to go out to protest against Article 23 on the July 1 march, and in subsequent protests, such as the Umbrella Movement, and the against the extradition bill in 2019.

One of its popular supplementary publication was Eat and Travel Weekly. If it did a story on the best char siu in the city, it would collect 30 or 40 of them, put them out on the boardroom table each with a number next to them and they would try each and every one to give a broad range of opinions. Many followed that publication as the definitive guide to local eats. 

But by 2003 China and the Hong Kong government had enough. They began squeezing the paper financially by indirectly persuading advertisers not to put ads in the pro-democracy paper, even though it was one of the city's most popular papers. 

That resulted in Next Digital having to severely downscale its supplementary publications on entertainment gossip and food, making three separate publications into one magazine.

Last Friday's edition of the paper, 500,000 copies

Last August's raid on the paper and arrest of Lai was a huge blow not only for the company but a horrible signal that press freedom was seriously under threat despite assurances from the government that press freedom is still alive and well in Hong Kong.

Then things accelerated last week with a second raid on the company and the arrest of five executives. It has now come to the point where vendors cannot deposit money into Next Digital's accounts, resulting in the demise of the just turned 26-year-old Apple Daily.

When it is shuttered, it will be the ultimate sign that press freedom is dead in Hong Kong, that free flow of information has been cut, and free speech is questionable.

How can the Hong Kong continue to describe the place as "Asia's World City"?

Thai-American Artist on Hong Kong

Rirkrit Tiranvaija's latest work at Art Basel

Art Basel has come and gone in Hong Kong, and it was good to have it finally held after it was cancelled last year because of the pandemic, albeit in a hybrid format with some physical booths showing art work set up at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, while galleries from overseas had online viewing rooms.

Admittedly I did not go to this year's fair, but did go on the website to look at some of the works on show.

One artist whose work I continue to follow is Thai-American artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. A few years ago he did a piece in 2016 titled "Freedom Cannot Be Simulated", the words written in black and red on the Hong Kong English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post.

Under the blue vinyl is a message on newsprint

He has done this on a few other newspapers around the world. Tiravanija requests a specific back-dated copy of the newspaper and then paints a slogan on it.

Other slogans he has painted include "Same But Not Equal", "Fear Eats The Soul", and "The Days Of This Society is Numbered".

One of his latest works on show by the gallery neugerriemschneider in Berlin. Named "untitled 2018 (this revolution will not be televised, South China Morning Post, July 2, 2014).

It features a blue vinyl cloth, and when the viewer lifts it up, the newspaper is revealed to have the words "This Revolution Will Not Be Televised" in large white letters. 

Based on the July 1, 2014 protest march coverage

What was happening at that time? On June 10, 2014, the State Council in Beijing issued a white paper called "The Practice of the 'One Country, Two Systems' Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It claimed "comprehensive jurisdiction" over the city, saying: "The high degree of autonomy of the HKSAR is not full autonomy, nor a centralized power. It is the power to run local affairs as authorized by the central leadership".

This was the first Hongkongers had heard of this, having believed China would not interfere with Hong Kong affairs for 50 years until 2047, but now it looked like Beijing would have more of a say on how the city would be governed.

That led to a massive march on the annual July 1 protest, with organizers claiming over 500,000 people came out to show their discontent. Reports about the protest march, which included some 500 arrests, were covered in the newspaper the following day, and that is the edition Tiravanija has chosen to paint "This Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

Tiravanija's 2016 piece using the SCMP

On September 26, 2014, the streets were occupied in what was later known as the Umbrella Revolution or Umbrella Movement that paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for 79 days.

That later led to Tiravanija making "Freedom Cannot Be Simulated", using pages from the South China Morning Post from September 26-30, 2014.

To have an internationally known artist capture these moments happening in Hong Kong is fascinating, and proves the world is watching... 

HK's War Against its Youth

Lam and Wong's last look at the media and supporters

 

Today three pro-democracy activists were jailed for their part in a protest last year at Hong Kong police headquarters in Wan Chai that evolved into a siege that lasted 15 hours. Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 24, was sentenced for 13.5 months, Agnes Chow Ting, 23, 10 months, and Ivan Lam Long-ying, 26, seven months.

Chow will spend her 24th birthday in jail

Wong and Chow are high-profile activists who were the faces protesting national education in 2012, the Umbrella Movement two years later, and establishing the now disbanded political party Demosisto. Only a few months ago Wong and Chow just graduated from university. Chow was the only one without a previous criminal record and sobbed when she heard her sentenced read out.

She will mark her 24th birthday in prison tomorrow.

West Kowloon Magistrate Wong Sze-lai sharply criticized Wong for challenging the authority of the police force in a premeditated plot, and called him "selfish" for obstructing traffic at the massive rally on June 21 last year.

She said they committed the offences at a time of "social unrest and large-scale public protests", which "made this case more serious".

Wong the night of June 21 at Police headquarters

During the siege, where people protested against excessive force by the police during the then anti-extradition protests, people threw eggs and soft drink cans at the police headquarters, and spray painted graffiti. There were so many people around the building that the officers were obstructed from attending 61 emergency calls.

Prosecutors described Wong as the leader of the protest that night, showing videos of him telling people at the scene through a bullhorn that they should get more people to come and "completely besiege police headquarters".

While Wong was recorded on video saying these things last year, and Chow and Lam were with him, witnesses who were there that night saw the crowd ignore him and the protesters in this leaderless movement decided what to do by discussions on Telegram. Wong left the scene early that evening.

The convictions were not just about what they did that night, but for all their years of activism, standing up against the government and inspiring others to do the same.

Wong protesting against national education

In 2011 Wong started Scholarism to protest against "moral and national education" curriculum put forward by the government. It would mean not learning about the Tiananmen Square massacre and casting the Communist Party in a better light. 

Scholarism organized a protest in late August 2012 around government headquarters in Tamar and tens of thousands showed up. Days later then chief executive Leung Chun-ying had to shelve the plan. 

Then in September 2014 the Umbrella Movement exploded after 87 rounds of tear gas was fired on protesters, and again Wong was the face of the protests. 

He was convicted and jailed in August 2017 and January 2018 for his role in the movement.

The jailing of this trio sends a strong signal to others not to stand up to authority, even if you may think protesting is right in principle. The space for dissent in Hong Kong is fast evaporating.

It also shows the government's unwillingness to engage with the next generation and reconcile differences -- the polarization is too extreme to find any middle ground.

87 rounds of tear gas fired on protesters in 2014

This is yet another sign forcing Hongkongers to decide whether they should leave the place they call home or stick it out, and become complacent.

There was more news today of Apple Daily found Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and two employees were charged with fraud. 

The government will continue to prosecute anyone it believes is contemptuous of it. 

The list is long.

Liberal Studies to be Liberally Revamped

 

Secondary students will have revamped liberal studies next year

The Hong Kong government is trying to shape the education of the next generation, by not giving them the opportunity to freely analyze and assess current affairs in their hometown as well as China, as well as further develop their critical thinking skills.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung announced late this afternoon that the subject of liberal studies will get a new curriculum, new grading and even a new name. 

Yeung says the course will be renamed

He said all teaching materials would be vetted by the government, and the existing curriculum would be slashed in half "to reduce the pressure on students". The material will put more emphasis on the country's development, the Basic Law and rule of law.

Meanwhile how students will be assessed will be revamped from the original seven-grade scoring system to a pas or fail.

Also as part of the course, students must make a trip to the mainland, though there are no details yet on where, for how long, and what they are expected to get from the visit, let alone the cost.

Yeung claimed the name of the course had to be changed because liberal studies had a "negative stigma" associated with it.

"We observed over the years, there are a lot of... usually not so good connotations with the name. As we are now going to refine the subject, we are now trying to make the subject have a new start. We think it is more appropriate to have a new name," he said.

Right...

The curriculum will be vetted by government

Liberal studies was first talked about during the first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's administration back in 2000, and was finally implemented nine years later.

It is currently compulsory for senior secondary students who want to go on to university. 

Originally the aim of liberal studies was to enable students to develop multiple perspectives on contemporary issues, help them to become independent thinkers and learn a range of skills, including critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.

But now the pro-Beijing camp, and ironically Tung himself, are highly critical of the course, saying it influenced students to participate in the 2014 umbrella movement that exercised civil disobedience, and then five years later the anti-government protests that later evolved into violence.

However, outgoing education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen described the government's decision to overhaul the subject as "abrupt" and made out of "political considerations".

"I think they are trying to cut down the emphasis on the study of current issues and also the ideas of critical thinking, independent thinking would not be emphasized so much," Ip said.

Ip says the revamp is a political decision

He also pointed out the contradiction that the government wanted to lighten the students' workload and yet they had to make a trip to the mainland as part of the course.

"This is the time when the students are in their examination years, so their schedule for studying is already very intense, so how can the students spend a long time in a field trip in the mainland," Ip asked. "And also the teachers will have to do a lot of things to prepare for the trip... why are they adding the extra things?"

Whichever way the education secretary tries to spin it, everyone knows it is a political decision to get Hong Kong students to be more appreciative of the mainland. There is nothing wrong with learning more about China or even going there, but there also needs to be a healthy dose of skepticism which is an important element in learning in general.  

But no, the Hong Kong government, and by extension Beijing wants to nurture a new generation of compliant citizens and think this is the way to do it.

Good luck.

Six Years Ago Today

Yellow umbrellas in force at Admiralty six years ago

 

Six years ago today was the start of the Umbrella Movement. I remember that day in Admiralty, seeing people carrying umbrellas and some wearing masks and goggles. What was going to happen? 

I just knew there were students holed up at Civic Square, surrounded by the police and people demanded that they be let go.

Nothing happened, so my friend YTSL and I grabbed a bite to eat in a restaurant in Pacific Place shopping mall and that's when I checked Twitter to discover people had occupied the roads.

When teargas was fired, umbrellas were defense

In disbelief we went back to see a surreal sight of people on the roads, helping each other climb over the highway barriers and wandering around. It was so bizarre we wandered around too and wondered how long this would last.

Later that evening around 6pm the police fired teargas into the crowds, who tried to defend themselves with umbrellas. People watching the scenes unfold on television were in shock and rushed over to Admiralty.

It would be 79 days before the occupation ended, and it was the spark that ignited the passion of fighting for democracy in Hong Kong. The community spirit at Admiralty was warm, friendly, eco-friendly. It had a utopian atmosphere of what people believed Hong Kong should be.

Students set up desks to do their homework and people volunteered to tutor them, people drew posters, encouraged others to write notes on the first Lennon Wall, and others created arts and crafts inspired by the movement.

The famous or infamous televised debate

Meanwhile the government was caught completely off guard and had no idea what to do. They looked worse debating student leaders, who demanded that the election reform should include nominations from local citizens. However, the government claimed this fell outside the framework of the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision.

The government revealed its impotence though it claimed the talks were "candid and meaningful", while the student leaders expressed disappointment in the lack of concrete results.

The protests revealed the growing divide between pro-establishment and pro-democracy camps, both becoming more entrenched in their positions.

And then on December 15, 2014 the Umbrella Movement ended unceremoniously with people being arrested for refusing to leave the protest sites, and the police cleaning up the roads for traffic to finally resume.

I never thought I would see the roads occupied by people ever again until it happened again five years later with the anti-extradition protests. 

Protesters regrouped in Admiralty last year

All that pent-up frustration and anger exploded again in the city, revealing that people still had the passion inside them to protest what they felt was not good for Hong Kong. 

But alas it has come to this -- a tone-deaf government controlled by the heavy hand of Beijing. The implementation of the national security law in the hours before July 1 came out of the blue for everyone else, but was the plan all along to force Hongkongers into submission.

And with the ongoing pandemic, it makes it even easier for Beijing to do as it pleases, postponing the Legislative Council elections (that should have been earlier this month), and outright banning mass protests all in the name of social distancing.

October 1 will have a loaded meaning this year, as it is China's national day and Mid-Autumn Festival. And the legend has it that over 600 years ago, the Han overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty by inserting secret messages inside the mooncakes...

A mini protest tonight in Pacific Place

Tonight there was a low-key protest at Pacific Place to mark the sixth anniversary of the Umbrella Movement. About two dozen peo

ple turned out to shout anti-government slogans and sing protest songs.

While police watched nearby they didn't arrest anyone, and instead urged people to disperse.

The Civil Human Rights Front had applied for a march to protest the 12 people detained on the mainland on October 1, but that was immediately banned due to social-distancing measures. 

What will happen next?

Lam's Excuse for Lack of Leadership

Carrie Lam gets to defend her leadership during a Phoenix TV interview

It is absolutely appalling that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor claims she is an administrator, not a politician, and was caught unawares that her extradition bill would result on the months-long protests last year.

In an interview with pro-Beijing Phoenix TV, Lam said she could not have predicted the turmoil that erupted in weekly and sometimes daily skirmishes between the protesters and police.

"I really did not expect it, because I don't consider myself to be a person who understands politics very well, I am an administrator," she said, when asked if she ever expected Hong Kong politics to be so complex in her role as chief executive.

June 9, 2019 when 1 million people protested extradition bill

"But as of now, Hong Kong needs to have good governance, which is inseparable from politics," she told Sally Wu Xiaoli, anchor and deputy director at Phoenix Satellite Television.

Lam said that since the national security law was enacted on June 30, calm was restored.

"It brought back the Hong Kong we were once familiar with," she said.

Excuse me? Hong Kong has not been the same since last year, and the national security law has created another new normal for the city, one of fear and frustration. People are being arrested for actions that were retroactive, which goes against the promises before the new law was in effect.

Carrie Lam with Phoenix TV anchor Sally Wu Xiaoli

Perhaps she has forgotten that the coronavirus pandemic has also not made Hong Kong back to what it was before either.

And how could she not know that the extradition bill would lead to millions of people marching in the streets?

She either has terrible intelligence or is in denial. Besides, after 1 million people turn out to march peacefully, and you ignore them, so double the number of protesters come out the week after, and you ignore them as well, then that's your fault for completely misreading the situation.

Lam has no excuse because five years earlier she was the one who spoke on behalf of the government during the Umbrella Movement.

That 2014 debate between the students (left) and government

That now famous televised debate in October 2014 between the student leaders and the government led by Lam who was then Chief Secretary, revealed the latter didn't have much room for maneovuering, whereas the student leaders like Lester Shum, Nathan Law and Yvonne Leung stuck to their demands of universal suffrage and changes to the election law, such as abolishing the functional constituencies, much to the delight of viewers watching in the protest site.

In addition, how can she excuse her leadership performance by claiming she is more of an administrator than a politician? While she has spent 40 years of her life dedicated to the civil service, she saw how her predecessor, Leung Chun-ying politicized the position of chief executive and surely she should have known inheriting that job would require political deftness?

Weak excuses really.

Or did she do it for the money? She earned HK$5.21 million by the end of the first quarter this year, with a HK$120,000 increase.

Never-ending Crisis

Carrie Lam has not offered any new solutions to the crisis, six months on

Every day in the media there is commentary from all kinds of people dispensing free advice to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her bosses in Beijing on how to end the crisis that has ripped Hong Kong apart for almost half a year.

One of the latest ones was an opinion piece written by Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights and former president of Chile. She urged Lam to take the opportunity post-District Council elections to reach out to Hongkongers and start having meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders, in particular young people.

The UN's Michelle Bachelet has urged Lam to start dialogues

She said also urged Lam to hold an independent inquiry into the police force's handling of the protests, and that having an objective inquiry would be good for everyone. It would also signal that Lam was willing to have a fresh start and was earnestly listening to the people.

Beijing was unhappy about her article and slammed her for interfering in "Hong Kong's internal affairs".

Many others have echoed the same kind of ideas, mainly that Lam needs to engage with residents and stop condemning the violence as it is not productive. They have all said, either for or against the protesters, that an independent inquiry is needed.

Even the head of the five-member panel appointed to oversee the Independent Police Complaints Council has said the police watchdog lacks the powers and resources to deal with barrage of complaints in an objective manner.

Protests continued again this past weekend in Tsim Sha Tsui

Panel chairman Denis O'Connor, the former British chief inspector of constabulary said: "[The IPCC] lacks the independent investigative capacity as we would expect to find in a body seeking to exercise oversight of the police.

"In the absence of establishing some facts that people can actually relate to, then rumours or innuendos or fake news are likely to continue and proliferate. I can't imagine that is good for Hong Kong."

Yet week after week in her regular press conferences, Lam continues to condemn the protesters as rioters and radicals and refuses to do anything until the violence is stopped.

Last week she even suggested setting up an inquiry into finding out the source of the protests.

District Council election was a referendum on the government

Does she really think it's something other than her?

After O'Connor's comments, Lam still insists on waiting until the report from his panel is completed before doing anything. So we're just going to wait another few months while the protests and violence continue?

Lam is hardly being helpful in getting Hong Kong back on its feet.

Her lack of engagement is completely baffling, no matter what side you are on.

Some think she is the fall guy and has to stay there until China comes up with another plan. They don't want to sack her right away otherwise it will be admitting that Lam was the wrong choice from the beginning.

But how long can we wait? We all want changes to happen for the better, not procrastinate until god knows when.

Will liaison office head Wang Zhimin keep his job?

In the meantime in Beijing there is speculation that Wang Zhimin, the current head of the liaison office will be removed because of the complete miscalculation on how badly the pro-establishment political parties would do in the November 24 District Council elections.

While the intelligence the liaison office got was totally wrong this time, it's surprising that his predecessor Zhang Xiaoming didn't get into trouble for what happened five years earlier in the Umbrella Movement. While the pan-democrats didn't win a landslide victory in 2015, they still made major gains.

There are so many things wrong with how Hong Kong is governed and everyone is giving their opinions on what Lam should do -- go away!

But what do you do when your boss doesn't let you leave, and you think it's beneath you to meet with people who despise you?

Zhang Xiaoming escaped punishment for 2014 protests

You do what Lam does and hides in Government House, and once a week gives stern messages that people don't take seriously because she has lost all integrity. She is basically a paper tiger who has lost her mandate to govern Hong Kong and yet Beijing continues to prop her up.

It's a sad state of affairs in Hong Kong, no wonder the economy is falling into recession.

And yet Lam blames the protesters. At this rate, things will never end...

79 Days

Last night protesters fought police around parts of Kowloon

Today is the 79th day of protests starting from June 9 when 1 million people came out to protest against the then proposed extradition bill.

That is the same number of days the Occupy Protests, or Umbrella Movement back in 2014.

Five years ago several main roads were shut down in Admiralty, Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok for 79 days straight. Now it's every weekend and the odd weekday where traffic is temporarily suspended, the protesters constantly on the move all over the city.

Many have suffered health effects from too much tear gas

This evening two people who call themselves frontline protesters gave a press conference in Chinese and English so there was no mistaking their message.

One of them was a man, Mr Chan, who spoke in Cantonese and was translated by a Miss Wong. Both were covered up with a helmet, goggles and face mask and even gloves.

The man gave a bit of insight into what it's like to be a frontline protester. He talked about how paranoia set in when they discovered some black-clad people were actually undercover police.

There was one incident where he and his friend were accused of being spies and were beaten by some other protesters. But the matter was soon cleared up and both sides reconciled.

"We cannot deny that the pervasive neurosis of catching spies has sown distrust, and has to a certain extent, driven a wedge between not only frontliners, but between frontliners and other citizens. We do not want spy catching to become an epidemic. Frontline protesters are themselves citizens. And if citizens begin to fight among themselves, the anti-extradition movement will be over," Chan says in a prepared speech as Wong translated.

The protesters question why the police were not in Yuen Long

"Infighting between citizens has only produced one winner -- the politicians and the government," he continues. "Infighting between protesters will spell the death of the movement. Infighting between citizens will spell the death of Hong Kong itself. We cannot allow the Hong Kong and Chinese governments to succeed in their divide and conquer strategy."

He questions why the police did not infiltrate the triads when there were already early warnings something may happen in Yuen Long on July 21 and in Tsuen Wan North Point as well.

"Why are the police shooting at the heads of pro-democracy protesters with rifles yet readily seen sharing drinks with white-clad terrorists on park benches? The situation we find ourselves in is absurd," Chan says.

They say Carrie Lam ignored pleas to keep Queens Pier...

"The police and the government aren't even trying to hide their affinity with the triads. The collusion between them is both seamless and shameless. As a frontliner we are always at the front line of battle and always the last to bow out of them."

Chan went on to describe the effects of tear gas on his health. Despite washing his clothes and showering, he still smells or believe he smells tear gas, and suffers from diarrhea, dry mouth, sore throat and rashes on the skin.

These protesters do not think Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is sincere at all, remembering she did not listen to the people when they protested in 2007 about the demolition of Queen's Pier to make way for Central reclamation, as well as "Wedding Card Street" in 2005 that has now become a luxury residential project in Wan Chai with shops and restaurants.

... and Wedding Card Street in Wan Chai

"These [Queen's Pier and Wedding Card Street] were both demolished behind Hongkongers' backs, causing irreparable damage, irreparable damage to Hong Kong's heritage. All but one of the student leaders in the 2014 Umbrella Revolution were imprisoned after accepting her offers for dialogue.

"Her government specializes in spreading white terror, whether it be through AI surveillance lamp posts, or police pretending to be protesters. But we will not allow to let this government to succeed in encouraging infighting, betrayal.. within ourselves. We hope Hongkongers will continue to stand up to our mistreatment by maintaining a unified and undivided voice."

One reporter asked Chan about his biggest concern. Other than admitting he was scared, Chan said the biggest problem he faced was his family, who he described as very "blue" or pro-police. They believe protesters are paid to go out to demonstrate, but even if he tries to explain this is false, they do not accept it so he would rather not talk about it at all.

Students debated the government during the 2014 protests

So these young people are very clear minded and do not trust Lam or Beijing at all. They believe her offers for dialogue are just a ruse after having seen what happened after the Occupy protests. They do not want to fall into the same trap.

These protesters are literally willing to die for their cause. A friend who is goes to most of the violent protests to monitor the young people says these young people are completely fearless.

Does Lam know what she is up against? It's been 79 days and these protesters are far from giving up.

Government Doles out Carrots... then the Sticks

Financial Secretary Paul Chan doles out sweetners, but hardly substantial

This afternoon Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced a raft of economic measures worth HK$19.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) in what he claims are meant to prepare for the possibility of a technical recession (two successive quarters of negative growth) in Hong Kong.

The relief package includes a reduction in the salaries tax, extra allowance for social security, old age, disability and working family allowance recipients, students from kindergarten to secondary school will get subsidies, and low-income tenants will get one month of free rent.

The announced sweetners won't benefit protesters much

Perhaps even more interesting is that Chan can't even bear to say the word "protests" and instead says "recent social incidents".

It's just as well Chan is talking in euphemisms because he can't even face the reality that Hong Kong is in the midst of 10 consecutive weeks of serious government discontent.

But sorry Mr Chan -- the protests aren't about the economy.

And if the government doesn't get that, or doesn't want to recognize that fact, then we continue to exist in parallel universes.

The one bright spot today was the release on bail of 2014 Occupy co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting.

Will Sunday's rally be as big as this congregation?

He was given a break from jail by the appeal court after serving three months in jail.

"I am very proud that I can stand with you all together at this very moment. So many people love Hong Kong so much. But, the road ahead is very unclear and very tough," Tai said outside the court.

"But I am still confident that Hong Kong's future is bright. The golden era of our city is yet to come. And I believe that time is not too far away."

Tai and another Occupy co-founder, sociologist Chan Kin-man were both sentenced to 16 months in jail after they were convicted for the unprecedented civil disobedience movement five years ago when several areas of Hong Kong were occupied for 79 days.

Benny Tai fresh out of jail earlier today

During his time in jail, Tai said he was particularly touched reading the news about the protesters who came into the Legislative Council at the last minute to collect their four die-hard comrades out before the police cleared the complex on July 1.

"I cried when I read the news," he said.

While there are several marches planned for this weekend, the police have again refused to give them the green light, restricting them to only rallies. In the case of a march that was planned from Victoria Park to Chater Garden, how is the park going to be able to hold so many people at once?

More frustration is just going to build...

Will the PLA Bring Order to HK?

Men in white shirts (top) attack Hong Kong residents in Yuen Long station

So much has been happening in the last two days since the attack in Yuen Long that it's hard to keep track of all the news, even on Twitter.

But the big announcement today was the Chinese military weighing in, saying it can be deployed to Hong Kong to maintain social order at the request of the city's government, adding that Sunday's siege of the liaison office in Western district was intolerable.

Wu Qian spoke at a briefing today to introduce China's new defense white paper.

China defense military spokesman Wu Qian spoke today

"We are closely following the developments in Hong Kong, especially the violent attack against the central liaison office by radicals on July 21. Some behaviour of the radical protesters is challenging the authority of the central government and the bottom line of one country, two systems. This is intolerable."

When asked how the defense ministry would handle events in Hong Kong, Wu only said "Article 14 of the Garrison Law has clear stipulations", without elaborating.

Article 14 says that the Hong Kong government can ask the central government for help from the People's Liberation Army's Hong Kong garrison for the maintenance of public order and disaster relief.

If that request is approved, then the garrison would send troops to carry out the task and then immediately return to their station.

So far the Hong Kong government spokesman said today the city was fully capable of dealing with its own affairs and maintaining law and order.

One innocent victim who was beaten severely on Sunday night

Is it? Following the accusations the police didn't do enough to protect citizens from a violent mob, Hongkongers are having second thoughts about their safety and security.

Or is this the scenario the Chinese government is looking for to justify having PLA soldiers in the streets to keep the peace, but really to take over Hong Kong?

The police have arrested 11 people connected to the savage attacks in the Yuen Long MTR station that led to 45 people being injured, but that handful doesn't even compare to witnesses saying about 100 of these hot-blooded white-shirted men who were rampaging through the station.

Some China experts with knowledge of triads say these unsavoury gangs have done dirty deeds for the Chinese government before. On the mainland, they have intimidated or physically attacked people to get them to move off their land for the government to redevelop, or prevent people from submitting petitions to Beijing, or from getting the justice they believe they deserve.

In 2014 in Mongkok, there were men with heavy mainland accents who stirred up a riot that led to a policeman shooting his pistol in the air. And now it's triad members apparently from Yuen long and Tuen Mun who attacked people with metal and wooden sticks.

So far 11 people have been arrested in the Yuen Long attacks

A middle school student from Yuen Long said yesterday, sobbing that he couldn't fathom that Hong Kong people would be beating Hong Kong people. And after witnessing what happened on Sunday, he can't erase it from his mind and now is terrified for his safety.

China experts say the government tacitly allowing triads to do their dirty work for them shows the authorities have lost their ability to govern and are desperate for the protests to end. But will it?

Every time something happens, people come out to support Hong Kong. Like on June 9, 1 million people came out to protest against the extradition bill, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam didn't withdraw, 2 million people came out the following weekend.

After July 1, Lam said the bill was "dead", but in legislative terms, there is no such thing as a bill being "dead" -- it has to be withdrawn.

The Chinese emblem was covered in black paint on Sunday

It's interesting Wu is more fixated on the graffiti and eggs pelted at the liaison office than the almost four dozen people who were physically injured in shockingly violent attacks in Yuen Long. They see it as a massive affront to China without truly understanding the root causes of the protests and the attacks on government buildings.

Twenty-two years later the Chinese still don't get it. And having the PLA on the streets of Hong Kong won't make it better.