- When you excuse and justify violence and riots, those involved feel emboldened and vindicated
- Sooner or later, rioters who are prone to violence and extreme actions will try to go all the way and endanger lives
While our opposition lawmakers and their media allies have been busy telling the world that our young rioters are really peace-loving youngsters, a few of them have graduated to playing terrorists.
Fortunately, police have arrested three suspects and seized 2kg of powerful explosives, 10 petrol bombs, at least one can of kerosene and liquid acid in the home-made lab, along with gas masks, goggles, hard hats and catapults.
The explosives include large quantities of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a bomb-making substance of choice of global terrorists. It has been used in bombings in Israel and Britain, including the London terrorist attacks of July 7, 2005, in which 52 people were killed and more than 700 injured.
Conspiracy theories are already circulating. It was a "false flag" operation, planted by the police and/or mainland Chinese intelligence agents. Who knows? It's not impossible but highly improbable. (Read about them on Facebook @yhmetblogspot and threads on the popular lihkg.com)
Three arrested as police bust Hong Kong's 'largest-ever' bomb plot
More likely, it's a case of "I told you so". When you excuse and justify violence and riots, those involved feel emboldened and vindicated. When you shout down critics who have voiced legitimate concerns about the escalating cycles of violence as wumao and Beijing apologists, you silence the only segment of public opinion that helps to restrain the rioters' behaviour.
Sooner or later, those rioters who are mentally unstable, or prone to violence, and extreme emotions and actions, will try to go all the way and endanger lives.
The Hong Kong National Front, led by disqualified localist lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang, has admitted that one of the suspects is a member. The group, which advocates independence for Hong Kong, said the industrial unit in Tsuen Wan was used to store acoustic equipment and other promotional materials. But it knew nothing about the explosives and other weapons. Police must get to the bottom of it and bring those responsible to justice.
Enough is enough! All those rallies that ended in violence serve no other purpose than to demoralise the public and destabilise society. Unless that is the real hidden agenda of groups such as the Civil Human Rights Front, they must stop now.
No more injuries and deaths, please. Hong Kong desperately needs a period of peace to recover. Unless you are plotting a revolution, turning our streets into battlefields serves no purpose other than tearing the city apart.
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