Advertisement
Opinion | Hong Kong protesters must renounce violence to keep US support for democracy and human rights
- Hongkongers lobbying for US support should be aware that when police are stabbed and home-made bombs set off, it weakens their case and could play into the hands of agents provocateur looking for an excuse to crack down
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Hong Kong protesters are engaged in a teenagers-vs-superpower struggle. The movement needs international support to tilt the balance. To mobilise international support, protesters should refrain from violent escalation.
Advertisement
Hong Kong people have been lobbying the US Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The act was passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday. It remains uncertain when and if it will be passed by the Senate.
Yet, when US Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley visited the city last weekend, they were greeted by news of a police officer being stabbed in the neck and the detonation of a home-made bomb for the first time. Both senators urged protesters not to respond to police violence with their own violence.
Protesters should heed this advice. The act, when signed into law, would impose sanctions against police officers and government officials who violate human rights in Hong Kong. Its passage would help rein in police brutality.
Protesters believe the city’s population is sympathetic to the escalation of violence. True. Even my sister, who did not support the 2014 “umbrella movement”, has come around. She said in our phone calls: “The authorities were blind to peaceful demonstrations of up to 2 million people!”; “The police are arresting and beating up kids!”; “When we walk down the streets we could be beaten up by police officers or thugs with impunity!”
International support is a different matter. Congressmen and administration officials do not live in Hong Kong or experience the vanishing “freedom from fear”. They only see black-clad people beating up other people, setting fires and smashing up MTR stations and property.
Advertisement