More shock arrests and, even more shocking, bald-faced attempts to twist truths and rewrite history

They want to twist the truth but we remember 

too well the events of July 21st, 2019

What the majority of Hong Kongers have been 

feeling for over a year now

I woke up this morning to news of Hong Kong Democratic Party legislative councillors Lam Cheuk-ting and Ted Hui Chi-fung having been arrested on charges related to the extradition bill protests last year.  According to the authorities, both men are "suspected of offences relating to a protest outside Tuen Mun police station on July 6 last year".  

Lam Cheuk-ting also was  accused of the police of "rioting" in relation to the mob attacks at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21st, 2019 -- which is incredibly ludicrous since, on that stated evening, he had live streamed the attacks on Facebook with his phone, and had ended up being among the victims of the attack  -- with a mouth wound that required 18 stitches among the injuries sustained that resulted in his being hospitalized for a time!  (Also, this is the same Lam Cheuk-ting who previously received a letter from the police last year thanking him for reporting the Yuen Long attack!)

As the day went by, further arrests were made.  As of the time of writing, the total number appears to be 16 -- with 13 of the arrests reportedly linked to the Yuen Long attacks.  As their identities came to light, there was further uproar since the police looked to have been targeting victims of the mob violence rather than the perpetuators!

The more news came to light during the day about the arrests and the police justifications for them, the more it looks to be the case that the authorities are trying to rewriting history, changing black to white and vice versa.  Among other things, they are now attempting to characterize the attacks as a clash between "evenly matched" rival groups -- something that smacks of major insanity (or gaslighting of the highest order) given the sheer amount of evidence to the contrary.

As many Hong Kongers have said to one another more than once over the past year, one big difference between Hong Kong and Xinjiang is that in Hong Kong, we've had tons of press coverage (from international as well as local outlets) and so much livestreaming of the protests and associated clashes that have taken place.  The former helps keep the world informed; the latter makes it so that many of us were effectively witness to such as the events at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21st in real time.  

So "imagine what they would say if the press hadn't been there...".  On a related note: how timely for the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) to announce its 2020 awards for journalism today and give the Award for Excellence in Video Reporting Global (English Language) Media to the New York Times for its "Where Were Hong Kong’s Police?" piece, an Honorable Mention for Excellence in Reporting Breaking News (Chinese Language Media) to Initium News for its "Investigation of the indiscriminate attack of July 21 Yuen Long Nightmare" as well as an Honorable Mention for Excellence in Information Graphics (Chinese Language Media) to Citizen News' "The ‘721’ Yuen Long Attack"!

She may not have won any SOPA awards but many of us remember and appreciate the courage under fire that Gwyneth Ho showed that nightmarish evening.  Then a Stand News reporter, she -- who now has become a social activist and politician, and was the choice of many to stand for election as a legislative councillor this September (but was disqualified from doing so before the announcement of the election's postponement) -- live streamed the attacks even after she was attacked.  

This evening, she showed her bravery and determination once more by turning up in Yuen Long to recount her experience that night and, in so doing, rebutt the alternative accounts that the police are trying to perpetuate.  It really says so much about them that the police's response tonight was to try to drown out her voice with loudspeakers.  But she nonetheless managed to make herself heard.  

Earlier today, RTHK journalist Damon Pang was moved to Tweet the following: "I’m confused.  They say it’s 2047 but it’s 2020,  But others say it’s 1984"; this in response to a Tweet by a colleague showing an incident which took place on July 21st which clearly did not happen the way that the police were stating today that it did.  Also today, Quartz reporter Mary Hui was moved to suggest that "Everyday is Opposite Day for the HK govt" and remind people, amidst the haze created by today's crazy events, that yesterday had seen Carrie Lam making a number of questionable statements too.

A recap: First, she had criticized medical experts who were not enamored of her government's scheme to conduct mass testing for the Wuhan coronavirus as being "politically motivated".  (It's worth remembering that these doctors include highly respected figures such as the University of Hong Kong's Ho Pak-leung and Benjamin Cowling.)   Then she had gone on to criticize critics of the Department of Justice as disrespecting the judiciary.    

Something that's worth noting: much of the recent criticism of the Department of Justice -- specifically, its chief, Teresa Cheung -- came after she stepped in to block two private prosecutions that Ted Hui had tried to bring to court (involving, in one case, an unarmed protestor shot at close range by a police officer and, in another, a taxi driver who had rammed his taxi into a crowd of protestors).  And in the off chance that it's been missed: yup, that's the same Ted Hui who was arrested today!