Regina Ip: the Mong Kok riot was no spontaneous outburst, but just who was behind the violence?
Regina Ip says the unrest in Hong Kong shows signs of having been carefully plotted, and law-abiding citizens must brace for more such agitation in these sensitive times
Mong Kok, a busy shopping and entertainment area in the heart of Kowloon, was a major battleground between protesters and the police during Occupy Central. About a year later, when the police were lulled by the festive opening of the Lunar New Year, it became the scene of riots unseen in Hong Kong for decades, sending shock waves throughout the nation.
READ MORE: ‘Don’t do stupid things’: PLA blames ‘separatists’ in Hong Kong for Mong Kok riot
Unbeknown to many living in more peaceful parts of the city, since the end of Occupy Central in December 2014, anti-mainland-shopper protests in Mong Kok never ceased. Bands of about 10 youngsters, unfurling the British Hong Kong flag and bad-mouthing the police, gathered nightly in Mong Kok. Then, as though being paid by the hour, they would stop when their time was up.
Foreign journalists labelled the riot the “fishball rebellion” – an uprising of suppressed street vendors against a harsh authority.
Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. A hawker management team was on duty in Mong Kok on February 8. Before taking any clearance action, team members were surrounded by more than 50 hawkers. Vendors of “stinky tofu” (a popular street food) in boiling oil lunged towards them. The team had to call in the police for support.
READ MORE: Mong Kok riot is a symptom of Hong Kong’s fraying social fabric
Alan Lau Yip-shing, director of police operations, testifying before the Legislative Council security panel last week, reported that no intelligence pointing to a possible outbreak of rioting in Mong Kok had been received.
Suspicion is now growing in informed circles that the riots were carefully planned. Plotters picked a day on which roughly 10 per cent of force members, especially among senior ranks, were on leave. In the evening, many had just finished their “New Year parade” duty, while others had been assigned to take up “fireworks” duty the following day.
As an emerging world power, China can ill afford to be painted as a bully, a loser, and an authoritarian dinosaur that cannot make ‘Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong’ work
Conspiracy theories as to the “black hand” behind the riots flew thick and fast. Among those who hate China, a view is spreading that Beijing fomented the riots, so that it could clamp down on protests more harshly, and more effectively “control” Hong Kong.
