Based on this chart.... I reckon HK is presently at stage 4; the police are starting to calling ordinary citizens (not protesters or rioters mind you) who ask questions these days cockroaches.
The Hong Kong government tried to ban face masks. Protesters are already defying it.
A demonstrator offers face masks during a protest against a government ban on face masks in Hong Kong on October 4, 2019. Laurel Chor/Getty Images
The Hong Kong government has invoked a colonial-era law to ban face masks in an attempt to crack down on the months-long protest movement that’s gotten increasingly tense in recent weeks.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, announced the ban Friday. “The decision to enact an anti-mask law is not easy one, but it is a necessary decision considering the situation today,” Lam said at a press conference.
The law, which went into effect Saturday at midnight local time, bans protesters from wearing any sort of mask or face covering, including paint, at any public gathering, including both lawful protests and unlawful assemblies. Those who violate the ban could face up to one year in jail and a fine of HK$25,000 (about $3,200 US dollars), according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
The rule will exempt people who wear face coverings for their job or for religious reasons.
Lam relied on a 1922 law that gives Hong Kong’s leader additional powers in times of emergency. The statute predates the handover of Hong Kong — once a British colony — to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, and hasn’t been used since 1967, the Hong Kong Free Press reports. Lam denied that the face mask ban meant that Hong Kong was in a state of emergency, though she warned that “freedoms are not without limits.”
But so far, the ban has only galvanized those opposed to Hong Kong’s government. Protesters — in face masks, of course — continued to demonstrate after Lam enacted the ban. Protests broke out across Hong Kong Friday night into Saturday, with more businesses and transit stations vandalized, and clashes with police turned violent.
Masks have been a feature of the Hong Kong protests since the beginning
Demonstrators wear masks for both practical reasons — the masks protect against tear gas, which the police have used against protesters — and more symbolic ones.
Since the start of these protests in June, the movement has valued anonymity above all else. Protesters organize online and closely guard their real identities, and their disguises — whether face masks or hoodies or face paint — allow them to protest in public with less fear of reprisal from school or work or family. Masks also protect them from being recognized on CCTV cameras around the city, which could be used to identify them and arrest them. (The government argues that this allows the protesters to act with impunity.)
But given that masks are a defining element of the protests, it seems impossible to institute an all-out ban. It may deter some people from protesting, but it almost certainly isn’t going to prevent the most committed of the demonstrators. It also may have the effect of increasing solidarity against the government, as even those not actively participating in the unrest may view the Hong Kong government’s steps as far too harsh.
In other words, the measure is likely to infuriate the very protesters most likely to cause disruptions and chaos across Hong Kong, and it also makes their cause look more just, and necessary.
Nah Emperor Xi will party through the night with his fellow chinks, then order PLA to roll into HK and level the entire city tomorrow. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Let see if this can top the massacres which happened in Africa and the Balkans.
Based on this chart.... I reckon HK is presently at stage 4; the police are starting to calling ordinary citizens (not protesters or rioters mind you) who ask questions these days cockroaches.
Off duty HK mata also kenna whacked sia.....
Holy shit, it's now total anarchy in HK!!!!!!! Photo on WB looks a scene taken from The Purge movies!!!!!
The Hong Kong government tried to ban face masks. Protesters are already defying it.
A demonstrator offers face masks during a protest against a government ban on face masks in Hong Kong on October 4, 2019. Laurel Chor/Getty Images
The Hong Kong government has invoked a colonial-era law to ban face masks in an attempt to crack down on the months-long protest movement that’s gotten increasingly tense in recent weeks.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, announced the ban Friday. “The decision to enact an anti-mask law is not easy one, but it is a necessary decision considering the situation today,” Lam said at a press conference.
The law, which went into effect Saturday at midnight local time, bans protesters from wearing any sort of mask or face covering, including paint, at any public gathering, including both lawful protests and unlawful assemblies. Those who violate the ban could face up to one year in jail and a fine of HK$25,000 (about $3,200 US dollars), according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
The rule will exempt people who wear face coverings for their job or for religious reasons.
Lam relied on a 1922 law that gives Hong Kong’s leader additional powers in times of emergency. The statute predates the handover of Hong Kong — once a British colony — to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, and hasn’t been used since 1967, the Hong Kong Free Press reports. Lam denied that the face mask ban meant that Hong Kong was in a state of emergency, though she warned that “freedoms are not without limits.”
But so far, the ban has only galvanized those opposed to Hong Kong’s government. Protesters — in face masks, of course — continued to demonstrate after Lam enacted the ban. Protests broke out across Hong Kong Friday night into Saturday, with more businesses and transit stations vandalized, and clashes with police turned violent.
Masks have been a feature of the Hong Kong protests since the beginning
Demonstrators wear masks for both practical reasons — the masks protect against tear gas, which the police have used against protesters — and more symbolic ones.
Since the start of these protests in June, the movement has valued anonymity above all else. Protesters organize online and closely guard their real identities, and their disguises — whether face masks or hoodies or face paint — allow them to protest in public with less fear of reprisal from school or work or family. Masks also protect them from being recognized on CCTV cameras around the city, which could be used to identify them and arrest them. (The government argues that this allows the protesters to act with impunity.)
But given that masks are a defining element of the protests, it seems impossible to institute an all-out ban. It may deter some people from protesting, but it almost certainly isn’t going to prevent the most committed of the demonstrators. It also may have the effect of increasing solidarity against the government, as even those not actively participating in the unrest may view the Hong Kong government’s steps as far too harsh.
In other words, the measure is likely to infuriate the very protesters most likely to cause disruptions and chaos across Hong Kong, and it also makes their cause look more just, and necessary.
Full story at https://www.vox.com/world/2019/10/4/20898568/hong-kong-protests-face-masks-ban-carrie-lam
Nah Emperor Xi will party through the night with his fellow chinks, then order PLA to roll into HK and level the entire city tomorrow. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
How can Winnie Xi sleep tonight after looking at all these photos of Hongkies running amok?
Meanwhile, protests hit Hong Kong on China's National Day........
Xmm so patriotic!!!!!!!