2016年CRI Hundreds March in Support of Police after Hong Kong Riot

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Led by the civil group 'Alliance in Support of Our Police Force', more than 200 demonstrators gathered at Hong Kong's landmark¹ Clock Tower, holding up banners and signboards and shouting slogans in support of the police. 

Leticia Lee is the founder² of the Alliance and was the main organizer of the pro-police march. 

She called on the local government to reflect on the situation and thoroughly³ investigate events. 

"All Hong Kong residents should do some soul-searching after this incident, because it takes two to tango. As we all can see, the government has to figure out ways to deal with the anger in our young people. After the arrests of rioters, we have to press on and make clear what they want and what motivated them to participate in such a riot." 

Meanwhile, Lam Siu-lun, the honorary president of the Hong Kong Tourism Practitioners⁴' Union says such violent attacks posed a great threat to the city's tourism sector⁵. 

"Frankly⁶, any recurrence⁷ of violent incidents or riots like this will have a disastrous⁸ effect on the situation and keep tourists away for a long time to come." 

About 300 people participated in the riot in early hours on last Tuesday at Mong Kok, one of Hong Kong's busiest shopping areas. 

The riot erupted after a handful of illegal street vendors⁹ refused to halt trading and clashed with law enforcement officials. 

Nearly 100 police officers as well as four journalists were injured as a result. 

Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Liaison¹⁰ Office of the central government in Hong Kong says the government severely¹¹ condemned¹² the separatists' violent behaviors. 

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying also called on all political parties not to make excuses for the bloody¹³ violence. 

"The government is calling on the public, especially the political parties, not to make excuses for, or attempt to rationalize the violence and the motivations behind it, let alone whitewashing¹⁴ the rioters." 

Rita Fan, a deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative¹⁵ Region to China's National People's Congress Standing¹⁶ Committee, criticized the riot as a cowardly venting¹⁷ of hatred¹⁸, which brings harm to the Hong Kong people. 

"All of them wore headscarves and masks and would not show their true faces. You had the guts¹⁹ to clash with police and to attack officers with bricks, but had no guts to face the consequences. Were those brave or cowardly acts? I believe it is clear to all Hong Kong residents." 

As of Saturday, police had arrested more than 60 suspects and 41 of them have been charged with rioting. 

Ma Yan-kwok, barrister with High Court of Hong Kong, described the violence as a severe criminal offence rather than a simple act of assembly.

"Their action has obviously overstepped the limit of freedom of assembly. The case should be dealt with by criminal law. This is a severe criminal offence. I believe it is highly likely that the violators will be convicted as criminals of riot. They need a warning so that their followers²⁰ won't do it again." 

A survey shows more than half of Hong Kong local residents interviewed say they believe the protestors should be held responsible for the incident, and hoped all political parties could set aside prejudices and find a solution through negotiation²¹. 

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.