Three years after Hong Kong riot police attacked practice passengers at Prince Edward MTR, on the peak of the 2019 protest motion, journalists and activists are having issue piecing collectively a coherent reply to remaining questions, as a lot of the proof stays within the arms of the authorities.
Hong Kong residents have repeatedly left flowers outdoors the subway station to commemorate a number of individuals whom many imagine died when police attacked unarmed practice passengers with batons and tear gasoline on the evening of Aug. 31, 2019.
Whereas police and authorities officers have hit out at ‘malicious rumors’ that somebody died, the selective launch of stills from surveillance footage from cameras contained in the station has achieved little to assuage public distrust within the official narrative.
Hong Kong journalist Ka Yan, who stood outdoors Prince Edward station as police chased away all of the journalists, sealing it off for greater than 30 hours, stated they’ve solely been capable of glean just a few fragments of proof about what actually went on inside that evening.
“The largest query we won’t reply is what occurred in Prince Edward station after the entire reporters had been expelled,” Ka advised RFA, utilizing a pseudonym. “Why did they lock down the station for 30 hours, and what number of trains did the MTR present that evening to choose individuals up from the station?”
“What number of cops had been within the station that evening and what did they do? The place did the individuals who had been contained in the station go? Had been there any severe accidents or medical emergencies?”
“Did the police or anybody else current make a mistake, or do one thing actually terrible?”
Usually, individuals investigating the incident would possibly count on to have the ability to view CCTV footage from contained in the station, as occurred within the inquiries into the deaths of pupil Chow Tsz-lok and Chan Yin-lam, Ka stated.
“However not within the case of Aug. 31 at Prince Edward MTR,” Ka stated. “There have been so many query marks on the time, as a result of each time the federal government reported the variety of accidents, it was a distinct story.”
“It is that sort of inaccuracy and ambiguity that has led the general public to query the authorities’ claims,” she stated.
“Ultimately, the MTR solely launched screenshots from CCTV footage, and would not launch the video,” Ka stated. “The police and the MTR misplaced public belief … as a result of they did not clarify what having, leaving the entire incident an unsolved thriller in individuals’s minds.”
Impartial inquiry
Former pro-democracy district councillor Derek Chu has been attempting to launch an impartial inquiry into the Prince Edward assaults, however has been hampered at each flip by official stonewalling.
“I nonetheless cannot ensure that no person died that day,” Chu advised RFA. “The rationale I requested an impartial investigation was to make clear this.”
“The federal government has stated all alongside that no person died, however will not let anybody else examine; simply depends on its energy to … arrest anybody spreading rumors that someone died,” he stated. “The best way they’ve dealt with it simply fuels public suspicion that there’s far more to the story.”
Chu stated Aug. 31 was an enormous turning level for the best way most of the people considered Hong Kong’s police power.
“We at all times believed that the police had been there to guard residents, however we noticed with the occasions of Aug. 31 [2019] that they … solely protected residents who supported the federal government,” he stated.
“One Aug. 31, they sealed off the world and immediately attacked residents … so there was a lack of belief within the police.”
The assaults got here just a few weeks after gangs of thugs wielding batons and poles believed to be performing on behalf of pro-CCP supporters laid into passengers and passers-by at Yuen Lengthy MTR on July 21, 2019.
Based on sociologist Chung Kim-wah, Hong Kong is now getting a style of China’s “stability upkeep” ways, that are not merely makes an attempt to suppress unrest, however extra about terrorising the native inhabitants to forestall future unrest.
“They paid individuals to participate in [pro-government street protests], and individuals would all get given meals or present packages,” Chung advised RFA. “In the course of the 2014 Umbrella motion, I perceive that additionally they dispatched teams of supporters in areas like Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.”
“It is apparent that there are organizations which can be concerned in beating individuals up in mainland China, and now they’re utilizing the identical strategies to keep up stability in Hong Kong,” he stated.
Chung, who now lives within the U.Okay., says he has lengthy been subjected to telephone calls from pro-CCP people, warning him what to not do.
“I’d get summoned by the state safety police, or get unusual letters and emails,” Chung stated. “Folks from mainland China would name me up saying they had been a researcher on the Chinese language Academy of Social Sciences.”
“All of that’s stability upkeep work.”
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
