Opinion | Repression begets violence and more violence. Hong Kong must give peace and reconciliation a chance

The peaceful efforts of hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers dissipate quickly, with the eruptions of violence that now inevitably follow. What’s more, it is no longer a question of whether protesters or police are using violence. The attacks in Yuen Long on Sunday make clear that violence as a tactic can be used by anyone. When violence is the norm, when it is legitimated as a political tactic, it cannot be controlled.

The protesters have tried to pin the violence on the police alone, to the point of coming down hard on the University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor for issuing a statement about protester violence. The reality, however, is that there is violence on both sides, and now from within the community too. Violence has been legitimated as a political tool, to the extent that lethal explosives have been unearthed in Tsuen Wan. There are no innocents here – violence begets violence.

Others, like Nelson Mandela, saw no choice but to use violent tactics to fight against a brutal apartheid regime. Context and conditions govern the use of violence as a political tool and an assessment of what is needed to win. But what are the conditions in Hong Kong that might justify the use of violence?

The extradition bill has been pronounced “dead”, and while the administration refuses to bury it, there is no chance of it being resurrected. The violence, however, is not about dead legislation, even though peaceful protesters continue to push for the bill’s burial. The violence is about China, or more accurately, the immense anti-China sentiment reflected most strongly in the pro-independence movement.