The chief executive in council decided at a special meeting
this morning to invoke the power under the Emergency Regulations
Ordinance and make a new regulation
in the name of prohibition on face covering regulation, which
is essentially an anti-mask law.
On Friday, the Hong Kong government
introduced a new law banning face masks in this city.
This was introduced using something
called the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, a colonial-era law
that is still on the books here that
gives the government the right to introduce
a whole lot of very restrictive policies and laws
into this city.
Now, it's granting the police extra powers to arrest people
and effectively pushing the police out
to do the job of governing in this city.
Now, you think about what that means.
The police force have a toolbox with effectively
one tool in it, and that tool is a mallet.
Now, in a way, you can't really blame the police
because it is the government that's
pushed them out in front.
And their increasing brutality over the last few weeks
towards protesters, towards bystanders, and even
journalists, is a natural response to the escalation
that we're seeing in this city.
It is essential for us to stop violence and restore calmness
in society as soon as possible.
Now, to a certain extent you can't really
even blame the Hong Kong government for the predicament
that we're seeing in the city today.
That's because Carrie Lam, the chief executive of the city,
does not have the power to compromise or to make
any concessions whatsoever.
That is purely in the gift of the central government
in Beijing.
The reason Chinese President Xi Jinping has no ability
to compromise is... think about it:
if you had him allowing people in Hong Kong to vote
for their leaders what would the people in Shanghai, in Beijing,
in Shenzhen say about this?
If you're Xi Jinping the possibility of backing down
in the face of violent protests is also an incredibly dangerous
thing to do.
Now, what does this all mean?
It means that almost certainly the protests
are going to escalate.
Almost certainly the crackdown is going to intensify.
And everything here is going to get worse.