Manipulated protests harming Hong Kong: China Daily editorial

The celebrations to mark the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as well as its image as Asia's World City were marred by a large mob of anti-government protestors who stormed and vandalized the Legislative Council complex in Admiralty.

It was a watershed moment for the SAR, as it let the world see who is upholding the rule of law and other core values of Hong Kong society and who is trying to undermine them.

But as well as the shocking rampage on Monday, in which a roused rabble broke into Hong Kong's legislature and defaced the portraits of lawmakers and spray-painted slogans in the chamber, the marked silence of Hong Kong's opposition lawmakers has also outraged many in Hong Kong who expected them to at least publicly condemn the appalling display of lawlessness and wanton destruction.

Opposition lawmakers, however, have chosen not to denounce the hooliganism. Instead, they have taken it as another opportunity to criticize the SAR government.

As a matter of fact, the anger among many of those resorting to violence has been inflamed by opposition lawmakers' rude behavior inside the legislative chamber over the years and they have been emboldened in their unruliness. Now these politicians do not have the courage to acknowledge their responsibility for the monster they have fostered and unleashed.

While the opposition camp has remained tight-lipped over the eruption of violence by those whose growing temerity they have helped to nurture, law-abiding Hong Kong residents have been horrified by such a brazen challenge to Hong Kong's law and order.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she hopes the wider Hong Kong community will come together to censure those who defiled the legislature and has vowed to bring to justice all those responsible.

What has also been notable is the hypocrisy of some Western governments — the United States and United Kingdom most prominently — which have called for a stop to the violence, as if they have had nothing to do with it. But, looking back at the whole protest saga, they have been deeply involved in fueling it since its inception.

The consequences of these outside agitations have been the increasingly serious illegal actions that undermine Hong Kong's rule of law and social order and harm the fundamental interests of its residents.

That is why the Commissioner's Office of the Foreign Ministry in the HKSAR issued a statement on Tuesday denouncing foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs and demanding those Western governments stop fanning political unrest in Hong Kong.