In the aftermath of what appeared to be a water main break
that caused a section of road to flood
Cops in regular uniform -- rather than fatigues and riot gear
-- at the scene after a fire broke out in an apartment building
The last two days have seen two fires break out in buildings in my neighborhood and also flooding on a section of road as a result of what appeared to be a water main break. Suffice to say that these are not everyday occurrences. An addition unusual sight that I came across while walking in the area after the fire which occurred yesterday was that of police officers in regular uniform doing what would have been regular police work before June 12th of last year. In all honesty, it's been a long while since I last saw Hong Kong cops acting so, well, normal.
On the subject of normal: In his first appearance in front of the press after having been announced as the new Liason Office chief, Luo Huining expressed confidence that things will soon return to normal in Hong Kong. In so doing, he pretty much immediately revealed that he may be on the delusional side -- since most of us who have been keeping tabs on what's been happening in Hong Kong reckon that the last seven months of unrest have been long in the making -- in addition to being in less than stellar physical health.
In any case, appealing against the high court's ruling that the Face Covering Regulation introduced last October 5th was unconstitutional surely is not the way to help get things back to normal; this not only in light of the intensity and number of protests against that face covering ban but, also, there being a health crisis coming out of Wuhan right now and Hong Kong having officially entered winter peak flu season. And it also most certainly doesn't help matters that Sophia Chan, the not particularly trusted Food and Health Secretary in Carrie Lam's beleaguered government, has not been as pro-active in finding out what's happening over in Mainland China as people here in Hong Kong want her to be.
With vivid memories of the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong (made worse by China having initially covered up what was going on within its borders), medical masks have been flying off the shelves in Hong Kong (even while their prices have skyrocketed). And the news that the virus behind the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak is from the same family as SARS is giving Hong Kongers something else to worry about in addition to the on-going socio-political problems that people are facing and global warming having ensured that 2019 was the hottest year ever recorded in Hong Kong.
In an ideal world, health concerns would prompt rational and intelligent reactions from people who are, or aspire to be, authority/authoritative figures. Pro-Beijing Legislative Councillor Priscilla Leung seeks to be respected. But so long as she and her party proclaim that Hong Kong is lagging behind Mainland China when it comes to public hygiene, she is only to gain the people's derision and scorn -- and get regular Hong Kong folks feeling even more strongly that Hong Kong needs genuine universal suffrage so that it can see its government cleansed of people like her.
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