July 22nd, 2019

mom walk

violence across the bridge

Since i got back to China i have been wearing all black in solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters the day after each protest. It doesn't count for much, just some laowai on the other side of the bay wearing black on a hot summer's day, but it's my little way of reminding myself that i don't want to get sucked into a bubble where i forget i am living in an authoritarian state.

Today i did not wear all black.

The fact that a bunch of shitheads in the suburb just across the bridge from my office took clubs to innocent bystanders "to protect their houses" while the cops stood by and did nothing is an epic escalation. The authorities are blaming it on triads, but let's not pretend a pack of organized criminals was beating the shit out of innocent bystanders for fun. This was a goon squad. The politicians excused it and the coppers ignored it. Meanwhile Hongkongers bled on the floor.

What's Carrie Lam's response? "Many sides..." Fuck this nonsense.