Dangers to one's health by way of the Hong Kong police as well as the Wuhan coronavirus

Not the kind of place you'd expect anti-government protests

to take place, right?

And yet the likes of the Landmark and Cityplaza malls

have indeed been protest venues in recent times

Last week saw three days during which Hong Kong reported having zero new Wuhan coronavirus cases: a pretty major feat when you consider that this deadly and super infectious coronavirus continues to claim many victims -- as in fatalities as well as infected individuals -- around the globe, but notably in the USA.  And today, Hong Kong went on to record zero new cases again; the first time it's done so in consecutive days since January 27th and 28th.

 

All in all, it's tempting to suggest that things are getting back to normal in Hong Kong.  Except that things haven't exactly been normal in Hong Kong for so many months now.  Also, as an unnamed graffiti writer presciently pointed out some time ago: "We can't return to normal, because the normal that we had was precisely the problem".

If Beijing (or its Hong Kong enablers) thought that freedom-loving Hong Kongers will quietly accept their attacks on the Basic Law and so much that people hold dear, they are so wrong.  As it is, last Friday saw the revival of the Central lunchtime protests (that have taken place at malls such as IFC and the Landmark as well as out on the streets) and last night saw a more sizable crowd gather to make their voices heard at a "Sing With You" event at Cityplaza, over in Taikoo Shing.    

Before they could properly break into song though, a large number of police officers -- the vast majority clad in riot gear and brandishing serious weaponry -- rushed into the neighborhood shopping mall to put a stop to proceedings and disperse the crowd (which, as one might expect of a mall, included actual shoppers).  In the process, the police threatened protestors with violating gathering bans introduced to help battle the Wuhan coronavirus; something the likes of Hong Kong Hermit saw coming weeks back. 

Adding insult to injury, a number of police officers were caught on video (and audio) making fun of  District Councillor Andrew Chiu, who is missing part an ear after it was bitten off in the same mall back in November by by a pro-Beijing, Mandarin-speaking, knife-wielding man he tried to stop from assaulting other people there.  More specifically, he was told that "You can't hear us with just one ear" when he went and tried to talk to them and one police officer was seen mockingly rubbing his left ear as Councillor Chiu pleaded to the cops to act rationally.   

In addition, the police physically shoved the elected official and threatened him with being pepper sprayed.  And for those who think this was just an empty threat, consider that his assistant ended up being so badly injured after being pushed to the ground by the police last night that he reportedly was unable to talk and could only communicate with medics by blinking his eyes.

Some twenty four hours later, I've not seen any updates as to the assistant's physical status.  In this case, I'm hoping that no news is good news but, if nothing else, this provides us with yet another reminder that one can't assume these days that one will be safe and well -- both due to the way the police in Hong Kong are likely to (mis)behave these days, as well as while a pandemic still is keeping the world on its toes, if not threatening to get it down on its knees. :(