HK violence unacceptable in any society: China Daily editorial

The violence that has plagued the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in recent weeks escalated further on the weekend, with rioters hurling bricks, corrosive liquids and gasoline bombs at police officers guarding important government buildings or carrying out their duty on the streets.

Police had to disperse the rioters on one main thoroughfare using water cannon.

Worryingly at one subway station a group of six black-clad rioters smashed a platform screen door and threw objects onto the rails, posing a great threat to the incoming train and its hundreds of passengers. And police had to fire two warning shots into the air when an attempt was made to seize some police officers' guns.

Two weeks ago, on Aug 18, Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, an umbrella organization of almost all opposition groups in Hong Kong, warned in front of the cameras — after what had been one of the few peaceful rallies — of "more radical struggles" ahead if their five major demands are not met by the SAR government. Since these demands are illegal they were never going to be met.

But rhetoric such as a radical struggle has become ubiquitous among the insurrectionists, as well as their Western patrons and biased media outlets. They proclaim in one voice that they are fighting for more freedom and democracy and carefully couch their discord and enmity toward the government in language reminiscent of a struggle against a colonial power.

This is a dangerous and desperate hubris that seeks to deny the reality of Hong Kong — that it is a special administrative region directly within the national governance system.

The people of Hong Kong run their local affairs within the purview of the SAR's autonomy. It is the perversity of some that they are so much opposed to a design that allows them to enjoy more extensive democratic rights and freedoms than at any other time in history. And Hong Kong has been consistently rated by many international institutions as one of the freest economies in the world.

The fault lies not necessarily with those who are willing to be led astray by the deceitful claim of "colonial oppression", but with those who are willing to incite them with such nonsense.

It is now clear that the peaceful mass gatherings and violent rampages are two sides of the same strategy intended to hinder China's rise — by grabbing the governing power of the SAR for the opposition camp and orchestrating ruinous disorder in the SAR economy; the airport was once again targeted for disruption.

But such machinations are doomed to failure, as the central government will extend whatever support the SAR government needs to defeat these treacherous aims.