Hong Kong’s anonymous, leaderless protesters — or three of them, at least — organized an unprecedented press conference today to counter what they characterized as the government’s messaging “monopoly,” as Beijing offered its strongest condemnation yet of the city’s long-running protest movement.
Much has been made of the decentralized nature of recent protests — many of which are organized anonymously and online — and the speakers at today’s press conference, dressed in protesters’ signature hard hats and face masks, insisted that they didn’t speak for everyone who has taken part in recent demonstrations.
Still, the trio maintained that “hundreds of people helped to come up with our statement.”
“The government will have daily press conferences from now on, and we are sure the press conferences will be just condemning protests and violence, bad-mouthing protesters, so we want to use the same platform, not just using online platforms, to voice our opinions and to ‘compete’ with the government,” one of the protesters said.
The protesters read out a statement calling on authorities, who have refused to engage with the movement’s long-stated demands, “to return the power back to the people and to address the demands of Hong Kong citizens.”
In statement responding to widespread unruly protests as part of a city-wide strike yesterday, the government today “strongly condemned the rapidly escalating violence which is pushing Hong Kong to the verge of a very dangerous situation.”
The statement explicitly “condemned the protesters’ acts,” but conspicuously made no mention of pro-government thugs who attacked protesters in two separate locations last night.
The activists at today’s press conference, meanwhile, challenged the government’s insistence that blame for the unrest lies solely at the feet of protesters.
“The current administration should be responsible for the public outcry but they have chosen to stay away from the responsibility,” one said. “Such disgraceful behavior should be condemned.”
They also criticized police for a “total loss of self-discipline… and their incompetence in carrying out their lawful duties.”
Police have been the subject of intense criticism for weeks for their heavy-handedness in dealing with past protests, with that criticism escalated to a fever pitch after they failed to prevent pro-Beijing thugs from savagely attacking protesters and terrified commuters as they returned home at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21.
Meanwhile, in Beijing this afternoon, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office gave its second press briefing in as many weeks on the situation in Hong Kong, warning that “those who play with fire will perish by it.”
HKMAO spokesman Yang Guang also said the central government still “firmly supports” both the Hong Kong police and leader Carrie Lam, who has faced sustained calls to resign from protesters, and for weeks has offered no plans for resolving the city’s political crisis.
Yang also offered the sternest warning yet for those behind the recent unrest.
“Don’t ever misjudge the situation and mistake our restraint for weakness,” he said. “Don’t ever underestimate the firm resolve and immense strength of the central government.”
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