The Politics of Policing the Anti-WTO Protests in Hong Kong
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/02185370601063175
ISSN1750-7812
Autores Tópico(s)World Trade Organization Law
ResumoAbstract Abstract The confrontations between anti-World Trade Organisation (WTO) protestors and Hong Kong police proved that their earlier encounters brought about uncompromising attitudes and escalating activities on both sides. As a result, riots on the penultimate day of the WTO meeting were inevitable. Applying David Waddington's flashpoint model, this article shows that other factors at the structural, political/ideological, cultural, contextual and situational levels were at play, creating an environment conducive to violence. Waddington's model provides a useful framework for us to comprehend the interactional dynamics of the anti-WTO protests in Hong Kong. However, it has neglected the possibility of an interactive bond between protestors and the public. The contextual uniqueness of forging a dynamic relationship between protestors and the public can enrich Waddington's analytical framework. Keywords: PoliceRiotsProtestsFlashpoint ModelAnti-WTO Notes 1. This article defines violence broadly as casualties inflicted upon the protestors and police and confrontations between them. 2. The Taiwanese was a university student. Twelve other Taiwanese were arrested in the ‘riot’, but the police released them later. The Taiwan government worked with Hong Kong lawyers to help the 22-year-old university student Lee Chien-chen (Chang, 2005 Chang , Y.-P. ( 2005 ). ‘Mainland Affairs Council seeking to secure release of student protester’ , Taipei Times , 22 December , p. 2 . [Google Scholar]: 2). The prosecutors described Yang Kyung-kyu of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions as the ‘ringleader’ (Cheng and Wong, 2005). 3. The Human Rights Monitor in Hong Kong agreed with Lee that it was a ‘disturbance’ instead of a riot (Ming Pao, 19 December, 2005). 4. The Korean human rights activists asserted that the Hong Kong police's treatment of detainees was ‘inhumane, including strip-searching, forced fingerprinting and cheek-slapping’ (Park, 2005). One Hong Kong photographer complained that he was detained for almost 10 hours in a bus without being informed of the grounds for his arrest and when he would be released (Cheng, 2005 Cheng , J. ( 2005 ). ‘Freelance photographer accuses police of arbitrary arrest’ , Hong Kong Standard , 20 December . [Google Scholar]). 5. He even went so far as to state that the police treatment of protestors represented a ‘humiliation’ to Hong Kong (Ming Pao, 19 December, 2005). A retired police officer attempted to mobilise 500 retired colleagues to protest against the Bishop's remark. Just before their protest, Bishop Zen clarified that his remark was directed at the top level of the police force, not the front-line officers. Zen's clarification appeased the anger of the retired police officers (Ming Pao, 26 December, 2006). 6. Kwon Young Ghil, the President of South Korea's Democratic Labor Party, said that the release of protestors was ‘unexpected’. Elizabeth Tang, the head of the Hong Kong People's Alliance Against the WTO, asserted that the police had ‘weak evidence’ against the protestors and that they had ‘wasted people's money and time’ (Chosun Ilbo, 13 January 2006). 7. It was reported that the charge was dropped due mainly to videotape evidence presented by lead counsel and legislator Martin Lee, who represented the three Korean protestors in the court case. 8. Most of the legislators condemned the riot, but they also criticised the government for failing to consult the 14 taxi associations (Hong Kong Legislative Council, 1984 Hong Kong Legislative Council ( 1984 ). ‘Official Report of Proceedings, 18 January 1984’ . Available at: http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr83-84/english/lc_sitg/hansard/h840118.pdf . [Google Scholar]: 1–48). 9. One police officer told the author that the pro-democracy protests in Kowloon were very tense, as police officers were instructed to prepare all the bullets for their guns and pistols (personal discussion with the police officer, April 1997). According to the police website, ‘In reaction to the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989, criminals tried to shroud looting with patriotism. The trouble was extinguished within minutes although global television which replayed endlessly one 30-second segment made it seem Hong Kong was in flames. In reality, [the Police Tactical Unit] had quenched the riot before it began’ (Police Tactical Unit, 2006). 10. If we distinguish the police perspective from the Tsang administration, it can be said that the latter had a far more serious crisis of legitimacy than the former because Tsang's political reform proposals were rejected by the Legislative Council in December 2005. I am indebted to the reviewer for this insight. Although 34 lawmakers voted for Tsang's reform proposals, which augmented the 800-member Election Committee that would elect the Chief Executive into a 1600-member body, 24 legislators voted against it and one abstained. The voting result failed to acquire a two-thirds majority vote necessary for the passage of the reform bill (Ng, 2005 Ng , M. ( 2005 ). ‘Pressure Mounts on Tsang for Talks’ , The Standard , 22 December . [Google Scholar]). Objectively speaking, police legitimacy in the HKSAR is constantly high, with the exception of the occasional outbreak of scandals involving corrupt officers and constables with deviant behaviour, such as an officer named Tsui Po-ko who was reportedly targeting at robbing his colleagues’ pistols and who was shot dead by his colleague in March 2006 (Associated Press, 2006 Associated Press ( 2006 ). ‘Devil cop's ambush of fellow officers stuns Hong Kong’ , 27 March . [Google Scholar]). The Tsui case raised public concerns about whether a minority of police officers was involved directly in gambling activities, which could have created deep animosity and family feud among the police. 11. This Korean report on the arrests of South Koreans touched on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong on 4 December, mentioning the remark of Donald Tsang that the behaviour of anti-WTO protests was ‘unacceptable’. 12. When Hong Kong reporters tried to interview a group of 20 members, they were stopped by three plain-clothes police officers. On another occasion, 12 members of the Party went to Wanchai where the WTO conference was held, but they were followed by 10 police officers (Sing Tao Daily, 13 December 2005). 13. The Hong Kong police spokesman said the snatching of police shields by protestors was ‘normal’. See http://hk.news.yahoo.com/051214/10/1jkbm.html (accessed 20 December 2005). 14. An anonymous police officer compared the performance of the Hong Kong police with that of the Australian counterpart in dealing with the anti-WTO riots and the Cronulla race riot, respectively, in December 2005. The officer argued that the Hong Kong police made a tactical error by using a police van rather than the Saxon armoured cars, and that they performed better than the Australian counterpart (http://www.publicdebate.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2576&sid=40af0c7fe36c062cc801b6f96c72a8d6). 15. From 1996 to 2003, the author was occasionally invited to teach at the Hong Kong police cadet school, where most station sergeants and police constables held the view that Leung was indeed a ‘troublemaker’. This view had remained prominent prior to the election of Leung as the Legislative Councilor in the 2004 Legislative Council elections. It is doubtful whether the front-line police officers have really changed their perception of Leung, who also participated in the confrontation with the police on 18 December 2005. In practice, on 14 December, some police officers complained to the reporters that, as a legislator, Leung should not confront with the police officers because such action discredited himself. Leung denied that he was the first one who led the confrontation while maintaining that he understood the police operation (http://hk.news.yahoo.com/051214/60/1jkxd.html). 16. This is the author's observation after occasionally teaching at the police cadet school from 1996 to 2004. For cop culture, a number of works are very useful (Berg, 1992 Berg, B. L. 1992. Law Enforcement: An Introduction to Police in Society, Boston: Allyn and Bacon. [Google Scholar]: 180–181; Reiner, 1992 Reiner, R. 1992. The Politics of the Police, New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. [Google Scholar]: 107–137; Cox, 1996 Cox, S. M. 1996. Police: Practices, Perspectives, Problems, Boston: Allyn and Bacon. [Google Scholar]: 164–177). 17. Even after the anti-WTO protests, Ming Pao carried a special coverage of the Korean protestors in a series of reports, including their tight organisation which ‘could be compared to a government’, their ‘innocence and conscience’ and their plight in comparison with the mainland Chinese peasants (Ming Pao, 25–27 December 2006). Additional informationNotes on contributorsSonny Lo Shiu-hingSonny Lo Shiu-hing, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada
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