12 Aug 2019 The Civil Press Conference - Press Release
關公廟 Kwan Kung TempleBehind the Gas Masks: Hongkongers, United We Stand
The Civil Press Conference expressed the most severe condemnation of the ever-escalating use of violence by Hong Kong Police Force in clearance operations, which results in grave injuries in protesters, and urge for the Chief Executive in addressing directly the 5 Demands.
‘Hong Kong has just seen its darkest weekend in its contemporary history. We saw Kwai Fong Station being turned into a gas chamber’, as Mr. Chan lamented in response to the tragedy last night. Chan further described how ‘protestors were being pushed down a moving escalator by the police in Tai Koo, where they had also fired at the protestors within a metre’s range of an air gun.’ Chan also pointed out a series of incidents including civilians being attacked by members of triads supported by the police elsewhere, and a female first-aider being shot in her eyes by bean bag bullets at short range, leading to the permanent loss of eyesight, etc. The concluding sentiment is that ‘Hong Kong had turned into a torture field overnight.’
Chan accused the police for ‘disregarding the guidelines from the manufacturer of the tear gas and firing it indoors multiple times last night into Kwai Fong Station’; it clearly states on the shells of tear gas nodules that its usage is strictly limited to the outdoors.’ Chan also quotes from research material that ‘being exposed to one shot of tear gas within a closed indoor space for 60 minutes would result in death’, as well as a testimony from Ms Arisina Ma, the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Public Doctors Association, on the gassing of Kwai Fong Station being ‘equivalent to killing by firearm’.
The Police’s violation of the Laws of Hong Kong is apparent. ‘A public official or person acting in an official capacity, whatever the official’s or the person’s nationality or citizenship, commits the offence of torture if the person intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on another in the performance or purported performance of his or her official duties’, Chan put stressed on the importance by citing the Crimes (Torture) Ordinance. Chan further pointed out ‘the illegally excessive violence used by the Hong Kong Police Force over the weekend showed their intent to kill in many of the cases’.
Mr. Chan mentioned the undercover officers of Police had ‘‘dressed up as protestors by putting on black tops and gas masks and infiltrated the crowd’, this has been documented on multiple videos from last night including live news footage from Now TV and TVB. Chan stated Hongkongers ‘have reasons to suspect that the Police might have used undercovers in many previous protests to start violent conflicts and participate in illegal acts, such as the manufacture and use of gasoline bombs, arson, the attack on Police Stations with bricks, and the possession of highly offensive weapons, and then framed the protestors for committing crimes’.
Chan pointed out that Hongkongers do not only feel unsafe leaving the house, but their lives threatened by anyone they encountered on the street, as they could be policemen mimicking as locals. Protestors are also no safer in their gears in the face the level of brutality of the Police.
“The protestors are repeatedly being called and treated like ‘cockroaches’ by the Police,” Chan stated, ‘such dehumanisation is a psychological manipulation that was once used by Hitler’s regime to sanction and justify the genocide of the Jews, who were duly dehumanised by the Nazi.’ Chan also pointed out ‘the cockroach sentiment also parallels that found in the Rwandan Genocide, during which the Tutsis were referred to by the Hutus as cockroaches’. Chan stressed that such tactics of dehumanisation ‘were deployed to enable the extermination of up to 1 million people’. Chan further quoted the proclamation by Mr. Junius Ho Kwan-Yiu, a Pro-Beijing Legislative Councillor, of his online sexual abuse of a female netizen to be appropriate as ‘‘cockroaches are genderless and not alive or sentient enough to feel sexually offended.’ Chan also pointed out that Ho has repeatedly used words within the semantic field of ethnic cleansing in numerous of his Facebook posts, such as ‘purge’ and ‘sterilisation’.
Chan elaborated several incidents of injuries in protesters last night demonstrated that the low-quality gear of the protestors could not effectively protect the people against the ever-escalating violence used by the Police. A clear intent to kill amongst the police has been clearly seen in many cases.
Hong Kong now finds itself in a humanitarian crisis, with protestors and civilians being abused and attacked both verbally and physically by associates of the Government and the Police. In the midst of these bloody conflicts. Whist Mrs. Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive, repetitively recycling her rhetoric of ‘deteriorating socio-economy’ and to pin the blame for the current state of Hong Kong onto the protestors, the spokespersons strongly urge Mrs Lam to stand up to the core issues that are yet to be resolved, instead of hiding behind the continuous use of excessive violence by the Police Force of which slandering those who truly care for Hong Kong for ‘destroying the economy’ and ‘having no stake in the society’. Her account on the protestors are evidently mistaken, and her focus was completely misplaced. It is only by addressing to all and every one of our 5 Demands, and not through the use of force, may the city be put back in order.
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