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Black Lives Matter protestors march from Hyde Park during protests in London, Friday, June 12, 2020 in response to the recent killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, U.S. /AP
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On Saturday, a fresh round of violent protests broke out in London, with intense clashes erupting between far-right activists, the police and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters.
Far-right activists who claimed to be protecting the British legacy and "guard the monuments" in the wake of the recent destruction of public statues across the country, were seen taking over Parliament Square at one point, pelting the police withbottles, cans and a smoke canister.
The chaotic scenes playing out have drawn widespread condemnation from British politicians. The UK Prime Minister has described Saturday's violent protests as "racist thuggery." UK Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the violence and made it clear that any action endangering the safety of police officers and the public wouldmeet the "full force of the law." Labor leader Keir Starmer also denounced "any violence" against thepolice.
These responses have, however, shone a new light on UK politicians'attitudes toward the Hong Kong protests last year, prompting many in China to point out the irony of their double standards when it comes to protests on UK soil.
As Zhang Bei, an assistant researcher from China Institute of International Studies, pointed out, while violence against the police and the destruction of public property in Britain were seen as totally"unacceptable"by many politicians in the country, those same politicians have been all too willing to condone the violent nature of many of the protests in Hong Kong last year. While condemning violence against the British police, they have accused the Hong Kong police of using excessive force against protesters and supported an independent inquiry into "police brutality."
When it comes to demonstrations in Hong Kong, many UK politicians'minds would immediately switch to an entirely different belief system where they reason that, regardless of the approach, protests theremust be upheld as a legitimate way for the public to express their opinions, "no ifs no buts." And any attempt to try to end the violence ordisruption caused to society, including those by law enforcementofficers, should be treated with suspicion, if not framed as "derailing freedom and eroding democracy" outright.
Scaffolders erect boarding around the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, Thursday, June 11, 2020, following Black Lives Matter protests that took place across the UK over the weekend. The protests were ignited by the death of George Floyd, a black man, who died after he was restrained in Minneapolis police custody on May 25 in the U.S. /AP
The July 1, 2019, vandalism and attacks on the Hong Kong parliament building was an abhorrent sequence of events for Hong Kong as well as Chinese central authorities. No government in the world would tolerate such actions.
However, in the wake of the July 1 violence, former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, instead of expressing concern over the use of violence by Hong Kong protesters, told BBC that he would keep his options open over how the UK would respond to the situation, not ruling out sanctioning Beijing.
The hypocrisy is simply staggering. Imagine a similar scene unfolding in the UK with agitating protesters attacking the UK parliament. Given the politicians'reaction to Saturday's violence, how would they respond? The protests would surely encounter even greater condemnation and harsher clampdown. But when this happened in China's territory, Hong Kong, rather than calling out the violent protesters, they decided to put blame and pressure on Beijing for a matter Britain does not even have sovereign rights over.
Moreover, seeing how the British government felt about what transpired on June 13, China has every incentive to maintain its own social stability and safeguard its national security. However, on the heels of China's approval of the draft decision on national security legislation for Hong Kong, the UK Prime Minister published an article on the SCMP website, announcing that if the law is passed, his government would extend time Hong Kong's British National (Overseas) passport holders could stay in Britain and even possibly find a pathway for them to apply for British citizenship.
This serves as yet anotherillustration of British double standards.The same politician who referred to Saturday's events as "racist thuggery" and people involved in the removal of Edward Colston's statue a week ago as "thugs," is, however, not able to countenance the idea that China would like to prevent acts that would cause massive disruption and destruction on its own soil by passing a new legislation.
As Zhang noted, not only does this potential new policy violate the memorandum the British and Chinese government signed in 1984, it also shows the utter hypocrisy on the part of the UK government.
Saturday's violence in Londonhas revealed a great deal about the true character of many UK politicians. While believing violence should have no place on UK streets, they have a much higher tolerance for it in Hong Kong. Instead of putting themselves in the shoes of the Chinese government, they have decided to cheer Hong Kong protesters on.
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