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Once again disturbing news about an alleged assault in the UK by men who had been filmed attacking Chinese demonstrators marking the anniversary of protests in Hong Kong, highlights how the right to protest has always been the bedrock of a functioning democracy, along with a free media (which is fundamental to our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry).
Previously Phil has described how he was helped to break into the South Wales Echo office car when he was a cub reporter, recalled his early career as a journalist, the importance of experience in the job, and made clear that the ‘calls’ to emergency services as well as court cases are central to any media operation.
He has also explored how poorly paid most journalism is when trainee reporters had to live in squalid flats, the vital role of expenses, and about one of his most important stories on the now-scrapped 53 year-old BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW) TV Current Affairs series, Week In Week Out (WIWO), which won an award even after it was axed, long after his career really took off.
Phil has explained too how crucial it is actually to speak to people, the virtue of speed as well as accuracy, why knowledge of ‘history’ is vital, how certain material was removed from TV Current Affairs programmes when secret cameras had to be used, and some of those he has interviewed.
Earlier he disclosed why investigative journalism is needed now more than ever although others have different opinions, and how information from trusted sources is crucial.
People must be allowed to protest openly, and it is even more important when those demonstrators are backing a free democracy, but are worried by its erosion.
It is especially alarming if those protests take place in the UK (which has both a democracy and free media) concerning the undermining of human rights in other parts of the world, yet the people are attacked by individuals who do not like it.
However exactly this has happened here.
The appalling events centre on China, and place centre stage how the tentacles of its leader, the autocratic Xi Jinping, extend far beyond the country’s borders, with his supporters using extreme violence against those who are protesting about the awful situation in Hong Kong.
We have, for example, witnessed terrible scenes in Manchester.
A clash at the Chinese consulate there broke out on 16 October 2022, between UK-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and members of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) consulate, on the day of the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It started when consulate members (including the Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan) who wore protective gear, attempted to take down protest signs that were used as part of a demonstration against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
During the course of the brawl, a protester named Bob Chan was pulled into consulate grounds and physically assaulted before he was pulled out with the help of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers.
Now further awful things have taken place.
Police are investigating after footage emerged apparently showing pro-Hong Kong demonstrators being violently attacked by a group of Chinese activists in Southampton.
The alleged incident occurred after a rally to mark the anniversary of the 2019 protests for democratic changes in Hong Kong, and the film was posted online.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said they had received a report about a “hate-related assault”, while Hong Kong community leaders denounced what they called a “blatant violation of the fundamental principles of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and the right to protest”.
The footage showed a group of three men, thought to be local students, kicking and manhandling a man and woman on a street in the city, while a sixth person looked on.
The woman and her boyfriend were left with bruises and scratch marks, and she has spoken of her fear that it could happen again.
One of the attackers could be heard shouting in Mandarin: “Hong Kong belongs to China” and waving what appeared to be the Chinese flag.
These disturbing events are set against other developments of concern.
A recent rule on the statute books (The Public Order Act 2023 [POA]) has been accused of being unduly repressive, and controversy has already erupted with its first (recorded) use being seized upon by critics.
On the morning of May 6, the day of King Charles III’s coronation, the Metropolitan Police (Met) used the new law to arrest six members of Republic, an anti-monarchy group.
It judged, apparently, that “items” found among the group’s “Not my King” placards, might have been intended for some sort of ‘locking on’ offence (the POA has now made it illegal to ‘lock on’ to “another person, to an object or to land” in a way that could cause “serious disruption”).
More significantly in this context, it also criminalises the mere act of carrying ‘locking on’ equipment “with the intention” of using it to disrupt “key national infrastructure”.
The protesters were all released without charge 16 hours later, and the force has expressed “regret” that those arrested (including Republic’s leader Graham Smith) were unable to join the wider group of protesters after finding no proof of wrong-doing.
In an article for the Evening Standard in London, Sir Mark Rowley, the embattled Met Commissioner, described the arrest of Mr Smith and the anti-monarchy protesters with him as “unfortunate”.
But this seems a weak word to use when what has happened is so serious; after protesters demonstrating for a republic were arrested, or those campaigning for democracy appear to have been assaulted…
The memories of Phil’s extraordinary decades long award-winning career in journalism (when protests were always covered) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Another book, though, has not been published, because it was to have included names.
Tomorrow – how the possible firing of 2,000 rotten police officers following a major overhaul of the police misconduct system to be announced this month, highlights the failings of those at the largest force in Wales which has been responsible for a long list of miscarriages, amid mounting concern that a country of only 3.1 million people has FOUR services.
