Some respite, both politics- and health-wise, but questions still remain about a number of government decisions

An ad in Apple Daily addressed to pro-democracy protestors

currently serving time in prison

Mourning Hong Kong victims of the Wuhan 

coronavirus (identified by their case numbers) 

by way of another ad in Apple Daily

 

In my previous blog post, I expressed my hope that I would wake up the morning after to find that nothing especially terrible had happened overnight.  And when I checked the news on the morning of September 1st (i.e. yesterday) and learnt that 14 people had been arrested in Prince Edward and neighboring Mongkok, my general reaction was relief that it all had not been much worse.  

 

Here's the thing:  Two years or even just 14 months ago, I would have thought that 14 people arrested at what essentially was an occasion to mourn (like, you know, the June 4th candlelight vigil in Victoria Park) was way too many.  But, even while I don't want mass arrests to be the considered the norm in Hong Kong, the fact of the matter is that I've come to think of the local constabulary as prone to over-reacting far more as well as generally behaving badly.  We're talking, after all, of a police force who, that same night, also did such as manhandle a pregnant woman in the middle of a street and fired pepperballs into a hair salon whose staff had been holding up mirrors to block bright lights the police had been flashing around!  

 

In retrospect, my reacting less to all this might also have been due to my being on edge about the immediate fate of Agnes Chow and others who had been arrested on August 10th on suspicion of their having violated China's national security law for Hong Kong.  For I had learned some hours back that she was due to report to her local police station; during which there was a possibility that she'd be formally charged and denied bail (as has already happened to the first person arrested under the security law: 23-year-old Tong Ying-kit, who as it so happens, is the same age as Agnes Chow ).  

 

Thus it was quite the relief when this did not happen and all of them had their bails extended; with our having to wait more than three hours to learn Agnes Chow's fate making the relief even greater when she finally did emerge from the police station which she had been in.  More than incidentally, media tycoon Jimmy Lai spent a longer time at the police station he reported to yesterday -- six hours -- but I only learnt that news today!  And their sagas are not yet over: for Agnes Chow, for one, is due to report to the police again on December 2nd: which just happens to be the day before her 24th birthday.  (And how sad is it that the security law suspect has voiced her wish that she'll be able to celebrate that day at home -- rather than, you know, in police custody?)

 

The sense that the Hong Kong police and Department of Justice are suspect in their choice of who to target for arrest and prosecution further increased today.  How else is one to make of the news that 27 more people have been charged -- in addition to such as the 13 charged in early May -- for their part in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University clashes and protests last November (including one for possessing an "offensive weapon" in the form of... a laser pointer) but no charges are being pressed against two men believed of having thrown 29 animals from a high-rise building, killing 15 of them?!

 

The closer we get to September 6th, the date originally scheduled for the Legislative Council elections prior to its postponement by the government, the more people are inclined to question that particular decision by the powers that be too.  For the record: Hong Kong is back to having single digit daily new Wuhan coronavirus case numbers, with eight confirmed for today; a decrease of three from the 12 recorded yesterday, and also lower than Sunday's 9 recorded cases.  So recognizably improved is the health situation that some more coronavirus restrictions are being eased from this Friday: with such as in-house dining hours of restaurants being extended to 10pm and gyms, massage parlours and beauty parlours to resume operations.

 

To be sure, the Wuhan coronavirus threat is by no means over though.  Hong Kong has recorded 93 deaths from the coronavirus to date, including a further three today.  And the Metropark Hotel -- specifically its Mongkok branch (as opposed to the Kowloon branch famed for being the ground zero of SARS and the Tai Hang branch that currently houses the national security bureau!) -- is back in focus today with two people lodged there had contracted the coronavirus and one of them has subsequently passed away!

Seriously: when/if tourists ever return to Hong Kong, the superstitious and those with health concerns should do well to steer clear from the Metropark Hotels that are still operating as hotels!  For in addition to today's coronavirus connection, the Victoria Harbour Restaurant of the aforementioned Metropark Hotel  Mongkok was identified as a coronavirus hotspot back in July.  And, while it now is known as the Kew Green Hotel Wanchai, many of us remember that back in 2009, it was the Metropark Hotel Wanchai when a Mexican traveler staying there was confirmed as Asia’s first H1N1 flu virus case!