My inner Pollyanna takes a beating but still goes on hoping against hope!

"Five demands, not one less" sign held aloft 

by a protester this past Sunday

"Tolerance" section of a banner hanging from an overhead bridge 

termporarily occupied by riot police that same afternoon

For much of this blog's existence, I had hoped that it'd help me to release my inner Pollyanna.  It's not coincidental that my second ever blog post was entitled "Ten Things That Make Me Happy".  These days, however, I often find myself using this blog to emote about that which irks, annoys, frustrates and even downright angers me -- after deciding that it's healthier for me to let off steam by communicating about it rather than letting it just fester inside.

It's in this spirit that I'm going to attempt to draw people's attention to what happened yesterday morning in To Kwa Wan: namely, a bunch of plainclothes police officers going about arresting students -- some of whom were dressed for, and apparently on the way to, school.  And if that's not enough to get one's blood boiling, one of the police officers decided it was entirely appropriate to pin one of the arrestees down by sitting on her head!

Amidst all the discussions of whether the Hong Kong police have been using excessive force over the course of the ongoing protests, it's also the contempt with which they are treating people that gets the goat of many.  (And for the record: The action of sitting on an arrestee has been defended in terms of it involving "minimum necessary force" by a senior police officer.)

Then there's the utter contempt that Carrie Lam and her ilk have for Hong Kongers, which is getting more and more evident by the day -- as is their misjudgement of our intelligence.  It's not just the refusal to actually seriously consider the protesters' demands. (And yes, I know the extradition bill has been withdrawn but only after an unnecessary delay -- during which so much bad stuff occurred -- and oh so reluctantly.)  Rather, it's also the nonsense that these arrogant fools seem to expect us to believe. 

This week alone, the public have been asked to accept the following (I'm quoting actual Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) local news headlines here):-

- "Children, elderly should flee unruly protests: cops"
- "Govt workers, youth need more sense of identity: CE"
- "HK people don't know how to be citizens: Annie Wu"
- "Barbecue smoke worse than tear gas, says govt"
- "Carrie Lam good at crisis management, says Kuk chief"

I know not to take the words of by far the most unpopular Chief Executive in Hong Kong history seriously but I still have not trained myself to stop my eyes rolling, my blood pressure rocketing and my head aching upon reading such announcements. As for her recent assertion that Hong Kong's freedom has not been eroded: words almost fail me but not so Michael Chugani, whose latest opinion piece I'm linking to here and eloquent retort to Carrie Lam's freedom assertions I'm going ahead and quoting below:-

The group that organized mass marches at the start of the protest movement is now regularly denied a police permit for protests. Young people, such as Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Agnes Chow Ting, have lost the freedom to compete in elections. A foreign journalist was expelled for hosting a lunch talk by an independence advocate.

Hongkongers have lost the freedom to wear facemasks. Staff of Cathay Pacific and other big companies have lost the freedom to peacefully express views even when off-duty due to Beijing’s pressure. The education secretary has said even the freedom to enter university campuses should be restricted. Should I go on?

Postscript: against expectations and recent practice, the police issued a Letter of No Objection this afternoon for this Sunday's planned protest march organized by the Civil Human Rights Front.  Perhaps they're hoping that the recent drop in temperature will put off a good amount of people from turning out.  For their part, the more cynical protesters are predicting that the event will be declared illegal and asked to end prematurely -- like has been the case at way too many protest rallies and marches these past few months.  Even while I wouldn't be surprised if this were to happen, my inner Pollyanna still hopes that this will not be so.