If the separatism and violent incidents during the turmoil over the amendments have damaged the trust of the central government in Hong Kong, it is necessary to make serious efforts to pacify the situation in Hong Kong; the 7.21 attack in Yuen Long three years ago may be a key battle to undermine the public’s trust in the government .
Despite Hong Kong's "disorder and governance", the trauma caused to society in 2019 still exists, among which the 7.21 attack in Yuen Long, which will mark its third anniversary tomorrow (July 21), is the epitome of it.
Just as Di Zhiyuan, chairman of New Thinking, pointed out, if the public's trust in the government is low, the implementation of the people's livelihood policy will be less effective.
What is the best strategy for the new Chief Executive, Li Jiachao, to mend these accumulated social divisions and divisions, which is crucial to the achievement of "good governance and good governance" in the future.
Based on the analysis of politicians from different factions, everyone knows that various events during the turmoil of the amendment bill, especially July 21, are still a thorn in the hearts of the public, but frankly, under the current political reality, it is difficult to re-discuss the events.
Some members of the Legislative Council believe that we should look forward and that the government should do more communication work to reunite the society.
The new government takes office - the second part of the series of social restart
▼Yuen Long 7.21 Incident▼
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7.21 On the same day, protesters smeared the national emblem at Yuen Long Station and shifted focus
The reason for taking 7.21 as an example among many events is because of the shock caused by this event in Hong Kong society, far from being comparable to other events.
Clifford Stott, a former member of the IPCC International Expert Group and a professor of psychology at Keele University in the UK, published a research report on his own after leaving the IPCC team, arguing that many conflicts during the amendment turmoil had a negative impact on the situation. Among them, the police in 7.21. The "inaction" of the police severely defeated the legitimacy of the police force in the hearts of the public, and drove the subsequent conflict to further intensify.
Some officials in the government have also told the author that on the same day as the incident, some demonstrators went to the Western District to attack the Liaison Office of the Central Committee and smeared the national emblem, and the government and the establishment were outraged. Outrageous, but the attack on Yuen Long Station broke out on the same night, and the focus completely shifted.
The next day, when senior government officials appeared to meet reporters, they were ready to denounce the attack on the Liaison Office, but the reporters on the scene pressed on what the officials were doing the night before.
Some members of the Legislative Council who have the pulse of the region said in private that at that time, some citizens who were not very concerned about politics at the time, even slightly inclined to support the government, were disgusted with the government and the police after seeing the attitude of the police officers on the night of 7.21, and agreed that 7.21 was the whole thing. The watershed of the intensification of the field amendments.
On July 21, 2019, the national emblem of the Liaison Office building was smeared by demonstrators.
(file picture)
Three years after the incident, seven people in white were convicted
In the nearly three years since the incident, some phenomena have also emerged in society, causing the public to question the official attitude towards the case.
For example, there were at least 100 or 200 attackers inside and outside the Yuen Long Station, and most of them were clearly photographed, but since the incident, only 7 men in white have been convicted and sentenced to 3.5 to 7 years in prison.
From time to time, some netizens reiterate on the Internet that some attackers who were photographed by the camera and had obvious illegal acts, such as Chen Zhixiang, the owner of the Xiaoniu Farm who attacked the former "Stand News" reporter, have always been a mystery. caught.
Cai Yuling (centre), the former director of "Sounds and Sons", was convicted in April last year of two counts of "false statement" involving access to car registration records, and ironically became the first person to be convicted of 7.21.
(File photo/Photo by Lu Yiming)
IPCC report fails to explain key issues
Officials have tried in the past to "put a coffin" on the incident.
In May 2020, the IPCC published a report on a number of controversial incidents during the amendment turmoil, including the July 21 incident.
However, the report could not explain some core issues, including the deployment of the police that day, why there were "no police hours", why the then district councilor Mai Yecheng had informed that there were local forces planning to make trouble that day, but still failed to stop the incident in time, and why did not immediately stop the incident. Arrests of armed men in white, etc.
However, since the IPCC has no investigative powers, the public has no way of knowing the above-mentioned key information, and many suspects have been swept away.
In addition, in the content of the report describing the cause of the incident, it said that some people on the Internet called for a "recovery operation" in Yuen Long on the night of 7.21, "to win Yuen Long and win the world", but in fact it was a fake picture from Weibo, which made the outside world Questions about the overall credibility of the report.
However, the government has so far not corrected the information misquoted by the IPCC. Instead, former Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said at a press conference on the day the report was released that what the IPCC report stated was "the truth of Hong Kong."
The government and the establishment avoid talks
At present, the government and the establishment party are mainly divided into two kinds of calibers: one is to keep silent or downplay the statement. When former Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung were asked about the relevant incident in the past, they all said that "the case has entered the judicial process and will not After taking office last year, the Commissioner of Police, Xiao Zeyi, said that he agreed that there is a "gap" between the action and the public's expectations, but hoped that the public would "look forward".
In the past few weeks, the author has contacted at least ten pro-establishment Legislative Council members, from political party backgrounds and non-partisan affiliations, across different age groups, to learn about their views on 7.21.
One of them said bluntly: "August 31 (Prince Station Incident) can be said to have been caused by 'thugs'. The most you can ask is whether people who are not related are affected, and 'killing people' can even directly denounce it as false information. .But 7.21 is really hard to justify, I would rather say a few words less."
Lin Zhuoting was accused of "making trouble" and the judge once ruled that it was not true
The second is the position of the "Deep Blue" faction, which is represented by Ho Kwan-yiu, a member of the Legislative Council Election Committee. They believe that the whole incident was caused by men in black led by former Democratic Party Legislative Councillor Lam Cheuk-ting who led the disturbance in Yuen Long, and men in white. The attack was "the residents of Yuen Long defend their homes".
However, in fact, there were no black-clad protesters in Yuen Long before the attack that night. Lam Cheuk-ting only went to the scene after learning of the attack in Yuen Long.
Among them, when a man in white case was sentenced in July last year, the presiding judge, Ye Zuowen, stated that the defendant Huang Yingjie accused Lin Zhuoting of taking the lead in causing trouble and beating people at the Yuen Long Station. Without witnessing Lin Zhuoting's behavior, there is an immediate conclusion to accuse the other party, which is baseless.
Lin Zhuoting's specific role in the incident has yet to be verified by the court. He is also currently charged with rioting because of the 7.21 incident, and the case is scheduled for trial in 2023.
Under the new electoral system, the pro-democracy faction has disappeared from the Legislative Council. At present, there are no members in the Legislative Council to ask the government about the follow-up work of 7.21. In addition, many pro-democracy organizations and the media have been disbanded. Occasionally there are fragmentary commemorations of "this year and today" on the Internet.
Tian Beijun: Always a thorn in the hearts of citizens
The above two calibers are not helpful in unraveling the dead knot in the hearts of citizens, or even counterproductive.
Among them, the Honorary Chairman of the Liberal Party, Tian Beijun, after Lin Cheuk-ting was arrested for "participating in riots" on 7.21 the year before, predicted: "7.21 is a thorn in the heart of many Hong Kong people. If the government does not deal with it absolutely fairly, justly and honestly, It is difficult for society to be harmonious, and it is also difficult to gain the trust of the public.”
In the process of collecting the opinions of politicians, the most difficult thing for the author is that under the current political atmosphere, democrats are reluctant to comment on the incident by name.
However, many people have privately reported that even if the pro-democracy faction has been defeated, it does not mean that the dissatisfied public opinion behind the government will disappear automatically. Among them, 7.21 has obvious issues of right and wrong, which must be explained.
Although there is currently a lack of public opinion polls to understand the public's views on 7.21, many clues also show that the community is still tense about the incident. For example, the police have been stationed at major MTR stations on the 21st of every month, especially those on the Tuen Ma Line in the New Territories. The deployment of guards to prevent people from launching demonstrations on the basis of the commemorative event actually reflects the social dissatisfaction with the event, which the police still regards as a factor that threatens social stability.
Jasper Jasper once stated that the premise for the resolution of various events in 2019 is that the national security issue is dealt with.
(file picture)
Jasper Tsang: National Security should not be dealt with on the premise of a single incident
The incident remains unresolved, and the buried social tear has not faded over time, but the factors to put 7.21 on the agenda again are far more complicated than imagined.
Former Legislative Council President Tsang Yok-sing analyzed in an earlier interview with "Hong Kong 01" that the society is indeed still in an antagonistic mood because of some events in 2019, but to dismantle the deadlock, we must first clarify some of the most fundamental issues.
He agreed that during the turmoil of the amendment, the government and law enforcement officials have not done properly and need to improve, but because the entire turmoil is a campaign against the country's sovereignty over Hong Kong and "one country, two systems" under the influence of foreign forces, it endangers national security.
Therefore, when commenting on the turmoil of the amendment bill, the society should not focus on individual single incidents. To unravel this deadlock, the premise is that the national security issue is dealt with effectively first.
In other words, if the government does not believe that the national security risk in Hong Kong has been completely controlled, it will involve some political risks to re-handle some of the controversial issues during the turmoil of the amendment bill.
Some senior pro-establishment figures who did not want to be named agreed with Tsang Yok-sing's above analysis, believing that if the incident were to be brought up again, politically it might be tantamount to questioning the legitimacy of the police force's performance in the whole turmoil of the amendment bill. "This is a purely political issue. (Former Secretary for Home Affairs) Secretary) Zhang Jianzong’s former Che Kejian, he simply said “I am willing to apologize for the incident” at the time, which has already caused such a reaction from the police (referring to some police officers criticizing Zhang Jianzong), “the following offenses”, but when he left office sadly, Carrie Lam even I dare not say a word of justice for him. In the future, the National Security Law and Article 23 will continue to be implemented by the police. I believe that neither the central government nor the SAR government is willing to take this risk and seriously deal with 7.21.”
Wu Qiubei: Society always needs to look forward
Wu Qiubei, president of the Federation of Trade Unions, believes that society has entered a new situation. Regarding some events during the riots at that time, it is no longer possible to use the thinking of the past anti-China rioters in Hong Kong, and engage in "confrontational politics". Society always needs Look ahead.
He pointed out that after all, there were only a few people who instigated the riots. At that time, he believed that most of them were "following the tide and returning to the side."
Wu Qiubei.
(file picture)
Di Zhiyuan: Re-determination or provoking controversy, but you can first admit the inadequacy
Di Zhiyuan, chairman of New Thinking, said frankly that the July 21 incident was highly sensitive. Some officials who were in charge at that time were still in the government, and their positions were even higher than at that time. Political characterization of the incident at this time may lead to other unexpected political disputes. bend.
However, he agreed that avoiding the incident all the time is not the way to go, and the government also has some inappropriate handling methods, "at a minimum, there are procedures that are not well done." If you want the public to feel that the incident has been handled fairly, at least publicly admit and explain it. Where there are shortcomings, "not for people, but for things", promising to absorb experience, which will definitely help to repair the public's trust in the government.
Zhang Xinyu: Citizens' expectations for a settlement should not be regarded as a "challenge" to the Police
Zhang Xinyu, a directly elected member of the Legislative Council from the New Territories North, was a MTR employee during the turmoil of the amendment bill.
He pointed out that he was not directly involved in the control incident at that time, but agreed that 7.21 was recognized as a very critical incident in the social unrest in 2019, involving serious criminal acts, riots and injuries, and there were many unsolved doubts, but he personally had confidence in the judiciary: " It is indeed such a large-scale incident, and many things are puzzling. However, the judgments of relevant cases in the future will restore more evidence.” In principle, Zhang Xinyu admits that the incident has traumatized many citizens, and relevant agencies and Government departments, can clearly explain to the public in due course.
He also does not think that "solving 7.21" has to do with "the legitimacy of the police force": "In the chaotic social environment at that time, the police force did not have any problem with returning to law enforcement work, but there is a need to reflect and review when dealing with things in between. Things worth discussing and 'challenging the legitimacy of the police force' should be two different things. As far as I know some high-level friends of the police force, they all think it is open for discussion."
Tian Beichen: Xi's speech "Everything is prosperous", paving the way for unraveling the knot
Zhang Xinyu reminded that in President Xi Jinping's July 1 speech, he mentioned that no matter what philosophy he believes in, as long as he sincerely supports the "one country, two systems" policy, as long as he loves Hong Kong as his homeland, and as long as he abides by the Basic Law and the laws of the Special Administrative Region, they are all positive forces for the construction of Hong Kong. .
He believes that this is a clear message that some dissidents in the society should unite, and he believes that most of the citizens who have expectations for the resolution of 7.21 and are dissatisfied with the handling of the authorities are not extreme people," Xi said. The chairman's speech just gave us a condition to mend our relationship, we can't just "give up" them."
Tian Beichen, a member of the Legislative Council of the Roundtable on Actual Politics, mentioned that since President Xi has pointed out the direction, in the future, Hong Kong should "prosperity with a family and everything" and attract more people to participate in the construction. The first brother himself admitted that there was a gap between the expectations of the public on July 21, It has paved the way for the settlement of the incident, so how to handle the public’s expectations without affecting political stability is a test of the political wisdom of the new government. improve."
The author asked the police about the law enforcement situation of the 7.21 incident. The police replied that the New Territories North Regional Crime Squad has been actively investigating the incident. So far, 66 people, aged between 18 and 87, have been arrested, and 17 people have been charged with participating in the riot, including Ten persons were also charged with conspiracy to wound with intent, seven of whom were convicted and sentenced in the District Court on July 22, 2021.
The Police will continue to collect evidence from different aspects, conduct a comprehensive and in-depth investigation, and will consult the Department of Justice for professional advice on prosecution matters based on the evidence obtained from the investigation.
7.28 Conflict.
Pleading | The 721 Violence Was Condoned, Some Defendants Say It Was Reckless, But The 721 Incident | The Police Arrested A 43-Year-Old "Man In White" For Participating In The Riot So Far 66 People Arrested 721 The Man In White | According to "Wah Kee" Street Station "I have a share" 87-year-old man arrested for rioting
