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| Today’s front page |
What he did, Leon Tong, and it was caught on video, was to ride a motorbike into a group of police. It’s not clear if it was deliberate or if he was just trying to break through the police cordon.
His real “crime” was flying a black flag, with white characters 光復香港 時代革命 Guangfu Xiang Gang, Shidai Geming, “Free Hong Kong; Revolution of our Times”, the motto of the 2019 demonstrations, and doing so on the 1st of July 2020, the day the new National Security Law came into effect.
The “free Hong Kong” bit is said to be Seditious. I thought it was a silly and pointless slogan for if there’s a bright red line for China it’s independence for Hong Kong. No way in a million years Beijing would allow even a whiff of a move to independence.
ADDED: Is the South China Morning Post pushing the envelope in carrying a photo of the slogan that is now illegal — “Free Hong Kong; Revolution of our Times” ?
So Tong was naive and foolish. But for that naivety for that foolishness he now faces life in prison.
The National Security Law came into effect on July 1 last year, foisted on us by an impatient Beijing in direct response to the continuous riots through 2019. It was under that new law that Tong was charged with Sedition and Terrorism. A year in prison with no bail. Trial with no jury of his peers. Three judges. And verdict in a few weeks.
ADDED: Inside pages:
杀鸡儆猴 Shājī Jǐnghóu
“Kill the chicken to frighten the monkey”. Some say that strategy won’t work* but there are plenty of frightened monkeys. *(BTW that article, in Forbes, shows why it’s bad for ones health to be too rich or too independent in China. Why it won’t have its own Elon, or Jeff, or Bill).
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| Leon Tong Ying-kit plays chicken with the authorities … |
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| Story of a slogan |
