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Nectar Gan

As Monday morning’s police shooting of a protester triggered a wave of shock and outrage in Hong Kong, across the border in mainland China, the response online was just as swift – but in support of the force.
“Support Hong Kong police opening fire! Clean up Hong Kong’s cockroaches!” one popular financial blogger on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, said as he shared footage of the incident.
In the video, an officer grapples with a protester and points his gun towards another approaching protester. The second protester reaches out towards the gun, the officer dodges, steps back and shoots him in the torso.
“It feels great [to watch]! Kill them all, these trash and tumours of society,” a Weibo user replied to the video, with a thumbs-up emoji.




“Hongkong’s loser youth, [police] should totally open fire!! It would be best to shoot them in the head,” another post read.
These comments, and many others like them flooding social media in mainland China, highlight the deep divisions in views on each side of the border as Hong Kong’s political crisis drags into its sixth month.
Despite some initial sympathy, mainland public sentiment towards Hong Kong has hardened since July, amid state propaganda painting the protesters as a separatist movement plotted by “Western black hands”.
The rancour from the mainland has only appeared to deepen in recent weeks, with photos and videos of protesters vandalising businesses tied to the mainland spreading online
In recent weeks, the rancour from the mainland has only appeared to deepen, with photos and videos of protesters vandalising businesses with ties to the mainland spreading online.
Last month, a mainland Chinese banker was assaulted in a confrontation with protesters during his lunch break in Central, drawing the wrath of many mainlanders and renewed online calls for military intervention.
Extensive media coverage of the vandalism and attack, as well as a series of inflammatory commentaries, have further fanned the anger.
On Monday, the social media account of state-run Beijing Daily ran the story of the shooting under the headline: “This morning, a gunshot in Hong Kong, to the applause of citizens!”




“At such a critical moment, the police officer acted so bravely and restrained,” the report said.
“After the police fired the shot and subdued the rioters, some citizens at the scene directly applauded the police. The reaction of the public directly shows that the officer fired not only in a legal and reasonable way, but also in line with the will of the people.”
In the video, a man in a dark blue jumper claps his hands at a nearby traffic light, as police officers pin the protesters to the ground.
A report in Beijing Daily did not mention that angry bystanders condemned the officers as “murderers”.
Hong Kong police officer who shot protester receives death threats against children
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of nationalist tabloid Global Times, and a regular – and hugely popular – commentator on Hong Kong’s unrest, also weighed in.
“As a media worker, I resolutely support this Hong Kong police officer gunning down the attacking rioters,” he wrote to his 2 million fans on Weibo in a post that included video of the shooting.
Hu accused Hong Kong and Western media of “focusing their coverage on the police shooting and diluting the illegal, criminal and evil deeds of the rioters”.
“Such guiding of public opinion is disgusting,” he wrote.


Hu ended his post with a message to Hong Kong police: “Don’t you be afraid of anything, resolutely defend Hong Kong’s law and order, be strong and be tough. You’re not alone on the front lines.
“Behind you there are not only the [patriotic] Hong Kong public and the nation, but also the country’s paramilitary police and the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison, who can enter Hong Kong and offer support in accordance with the Basic Law when needed.”
The post was liked more than 26,000 times in six hours.
Scores of Chinese students flee Hong Kong over fears they will be attacked
Meanwhile, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called on the Hong Kong government to give a detailed response to the Hong Kong people’s calls for democracy and freedom, which she described as “the only path to return to stability and order”.
“Governments should not fire upon unarmed people, this will only exacerbate the problem,” she wrote on her official Facebook account. “Beijing and the Hong Kong government should respond to the Hong Kong people, not with bullets but with the promise of democracy and freedom.”
Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees the island’s policies on Beijing, called on all sides to give up their arms and aggressive actions to make way for peaceful conversation.


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Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai wanted to lure foreign readers with ‘negative’ mainland China news

Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai sought US support for protests but denies inciting hatred

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Hong Kong protests

Police shooting exposes deep divide online between mainland China and Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s police force has gained support from online commenters on the mainland. Photo: Nora Tam

Meet the mainland Chinese who are living in fear in Hong Kong

Home is where the hate is: mainland Chinese are living in fear in Hong Kong. Illustration: Henry Wong

Interview with Henry Ho Kin-chung at SCMP in Causeway Bay. The former political assistant at the Development Bureau launches a think tank One Country Two Systems Youth Forum with the aim of fostering dialogue between young people in Hong Kong and the mainland on the "one country, two system" blueprint and the way forward after it expires in 2047. 26APR17 SCMP/ Edmond So

Hong Kong protests: young, educated mainland Chinese are questioning their place in the city

Thousands of professionals from mainland China have been drawn to the city but a summer of unrest has left many questioning the protests and their own place in Hong Kong. Illustration: Perry Tse

The on-going protests give a hard lesson to Gangpiao as to how to explain the whole thing to their children. SCMP/ Kristin Huang

FILE PHOTO: Fu Guohao, reporter of Chinese media Global Times website, is tied by protesters during a mass demonstration at Hong Kong international airport, in Hong Kong, China, August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo To match Special Report HONGKONG-PROTESTS/PROTESTERS

Hong Kong protests: shot student remains in critical condition after surgery to remove right kidney, part of liver and bullet, as arguments rage over force used

The incident occurred at about 7.20am on Monday at a road crossing. Photo: Nora Tam

Sai Wan Ho is left trashed after confrontations between riot police and anti-government protesters, during which three live shots were fired. 11NOV19 SCMP / Nora Tam

Riot Police arrive to make arrests and clear the area following two officers trying to stop two protesters blocking a road crossing in Sai Wan Ho at around 7.20am, during which three live shots are fired. 11NOV19 SCMP / Nora Tam

Police arrive to investigate the site and clear the area following two officers trying to stop two protesters blocking a road crossing in Sai Wan Ho at around 7.20am, during which three live shots are fired. 11NOV19 SCMP / Nora Tam

Global Times chief calls for Hong Kong University of Science and Technology boycott over attack on mainland student

Students clash at HKUST on Wednesday. Photo: Dickson Lee

A man hold a knife when Chinese University students during a march before Chinese University 87th Congregation ceremony for the Conferment of Bachelorâs and Masterâs Degrees at Chinese University.  07NOV19 SCMP/ Winson Wong

HKUST president Wei Shyy (right) meet students to discuss about injured student (Chow Tsz-lok) who fell from a car park in Tseung Kwan O at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 06NOV19 SCMP/Dickson Lee

Taking aim at China: why Hong Kong ‘radicals’ have turned on mainland Chinese targets

Businesses and people with ties to mainland China have been in the firing line of a nativist group of protesters. Illustration: Henry Wong

Tian Feilong, Associate Professor of Law School and The Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences; The Executive Director of the Center for Legal Studies in One Country Two Systems, Beihang University answers a question at a press conference in Beijing on August 15, 2019. (Photo by WANG ZHAO / AFP)

Anti-government protesters gather on Tai Po Road and build barricades on the roads to block traffic in Sha Tin. 13OCT19 SCMP / Felix Wong

People pass by burning debris at a road block during a protest in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, China, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. Tens of thousands of protesters marched through central Hong Kong, defying a police ban on a mass rally that had been planned for Sunday afternoon, forming a sea of black shirts and umbrellas as police warned them to stop immediately. Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor meets the press at the Central Government Offices in Tamar, after the 2019 policy address speech has been delivered via a pre-recorded live broadcast. 16OCT19 SCMP / May Tse

Riot police fire water at protesters from the water canon truck as they hold another rally and march from East Point Road in Causeway Bay to Chater Garden in Central. 15SEP19 SCMP / Edmond So

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China

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Hong Kong


Mainland social media users come out in strong support for the officer, compounding extensive coverage of vandalism of businesses with ties across the border



Mainland social media users come out in strong support for the officer, compounding extensive coverage of vandalism of businesses with ties across the border.
