Hong Kong’s legal community turned out in force today to call on the government to launch an independent investigation into the unrest that has rocked the city for the last two months, and to voice their staunch opposition to any politicization of the judiciary.
Today’s rally was the second “silent march” organized by members of the legal profession since protests sparked by a controversial extradition bill first began in earnest — a clear sign of the degree to which the community has been rattled, given that only a handful of such marches have taken place since 1997.
“I have just relayed the message to the personnel at the Department of Justice that, together with all the members of the legal profession, we are here to demand a face-to-face meeting with the secretary for justice and the director of public prosecutions to say no — we are going to say no to political prosecution,” Dennis Kwok, a lawmaker who represents the legal functional constituency, told the crowd assembled outside the Department of Justice.
“Our colleagues in the DoJ have already issued an open statement telling us that they are concerned that political prosecution is now a reality in Hong Kong. Now, that, as the legal profession, we will never accept… Also, we are here to demand for an independent commission of inquiry for all the public events that have taken place in recent times.”
“We are going to say no to political persecution.”
Hong Kong lawmaker Dennis Kwok says the legal profession is demanding answers and an independent inquiry into recent public events #香港 pic.twitter.com/cOmXbf1aYY
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) August 7, 2019
Those who gathered today also called attention to what they characterized as the discrepancy between the authorities’ apparent zeal for arresting unruly protesters — nearly 600 have been picked up since June 9 — and their apparent reluctance to go after white-shirted pro-Beijing thugs accused of attacking protesters.
Police have so far only arrested 19 men for last month’s attacks on pro-democracy protesters that hospitalized 45 people at Yuen Long MTR, and only on the less serious charge of unlawful assembly. At least 44 protesters, meanwhile, have been charged with rioting, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Police’s failure to respond to the Yuen Long attacks in time, as well as numerous videos showing them turning a blind eye to alleged assailants, prompted a massive outpouring of public anger towards the force.
Lawyers of Hong Kong march to the Department of Justice to make the point they won’t stand for political pressure on the independent judiciary. #antiELAB #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/zwK1n4wyud
— Christy Choi (@jchristychoi) August 7, 2019
“The rule of law means, most importantly, that we are all equal before the law,” pro-dem politician and lawyer Martin Lee told the crowd.
“If people wearing black commit any criminal offenses and you bring them to justice, that’s fair,” he continued, referring to protesters’ color of choice. “But why don’t you do the same when the criminals are wearing white?… They were allowed to walk away, even when the police got there belatedly. They were not even asked to show their ID cards.”
Trust in Hong Kong’s police and legal institutions — once the pride of the city — is abysmally low after weeks of protests and little in the way of a substantive response from the government.
As protesters demands have grown beyond fears over the now-suspended extradition bill to include calls for democratic reforms and investigations into police’s use of force, the city’s leaders have shown no willingness to back down.
Indeed, police’s response to widespread unruly demonstrations on Monday — many of which targeted police stations with graffiti and stone-throwing — was, if anything, an escalation. Some 800 rounds of tear gas were fired and nearly 150 were arrested in a single day.
