Trying in vain to put a positive spin on a situation that the police and government appear intent on making worse :(

It's a big deal when lots of people turn up for a protest march...

...hence the people in power not wanting to see 

such mega turnouts repeated again

Not so long ago, I had a friend characterize me as -- or should I say accuse me of being? -- a Pollyanna.  But while I'd not deny that I do like to look on and for the bright side of things, it's also true enough that there are times when my mood can suddenly plummet after an unpleasant encounter with a person, having a not so satisfying experience or even hearing a less than positive piece of news.

Which brings us to my present situation: After feeling miserably low after the events of last Sunday, I actually perked up a bit over the next few days during which I had positive encounters with a number of people (clients as well as friends), a few really nice meals, and even enjoyed a night out at the cinema watching a feel-good documentary about women and sake.  And even though I wasn't at Hong Kong stadium on Tuesday night, seeing and hearing what ensued there via video clips by Twitter users (like this and this too) did warm the cockles of my heart.

To be sure, the sight of three women (two of them with official looking red vests that seemed to emphasize that they were hired help) tearing down posters and post-it notes from my local Lennon Wall in broad daylight early yesterday afternoon did get my temper rising.  But my returning to a scene a few hours later with a hand-made poster to rebuild the wall and seeing in the evening that others also had contributed to re-building what I have come to look upon as a community affirmation of pro-democracy demands and support made me feel that there were more positives than negatives in that day.

Sadly, however, the fragile inner peace I had for the first half of this week was shattered this afternoon by the news that a proposed march this Sunday by the venerable Civil Human Rights Front has been banned by the police.  For those who wish to keep count: It's now the 13th such time this has happened this summer (if one also includes the banning today of another proposed protest march on Saturday -- that one over in Tin Shui Wai).  

One big reason why this ban gets my goat is that the authorities are attempting to ensure that there are no further mega protests (like those organized by the Civil Human Rights Front on June 9th and 16th) will take place not by trying to actually assuage the protesters but, instead, by preventing them from exercising what's supposed to be basic rights guaranteed in Article 27 of the Basic Law.  Put another way: Even while still often making a case that peaceful protests are useless, they also want to ensure that large-scale peaceful protests are no longer possible in Hong Kong.   

Another reason why this ban (which I'm sure will be appealed but am not sure will get overturned) is such a downer is that it's come on top of the news also received today that the MTR is continuing with its actions to inconvenience the public (this time by announcing earlier today that it has deemed overnight Mid-Autumn Festival services too risky), and Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng -- whose unpopularity rivals Carrie Lam's -- announcing that the government has indeed been considering invoking emergency powers and also that her department had been thinking of introducing a law banning protesters from wearing masks. 

With regards to the last "idea": Again, it shows that the government is not trying to actually get to the root of problems but, rather, dealing -- and in an idiotic way at that -- with the by-products of them.  To try to stop people in notoriously germaphobic Hong Kong from wearing masks would seem like a recipe for disaster and revolution even in normal times.  To do so when Hong Kongers already feel that they have so much to be angry about really is the height of insanity, and yet one more sign that this government is seriously clueless as to how to get Hong Kong out of the situation it currently is in as well as of actually understanding -- and positively responding to -- the demands of the people. :(