A funny story from yesterday: A horde of police were trying to catch 2 youths they suspected of having thrown debris in the road. 1 cop dropped his baton. An old man picked it up, dropped it down a manhole cover, & sauntered away. When police came back for it, it was gone.

All of #HK's resisting tyranny, each as they can. This is an occupied city. It's not a free, or 'semi-free' city, any more than France was semi-free under Nazi occupation. #HK is occupied. Unless you apply this lens to the situation, it's hard to understand what's happening here.

Another story: Police are charging protesters on Canal Rd. Many scatter into Bowrington wet market. A protester asks a stall holder if he wants them to help move his wares indoors as police may charge through. The stall holder says, No, better to block them, may they all die.

Up to then, who knew what this wet market seller's opinion was? 'May their whole families die' is a typical slogan chanted at police (one I don't agree w, btw, but I understand the sentiment). The wet market seller's statement is by a person who knows his city is under occupation

I wonder what the police think. Is it beginning to dawn on them that they're going to be working directly under & for the Chinese security state? Last year, several police told me separately they think #HK would be better off under direct #CCP rule. Now they'll get their wish.

Other police have always believed they've simply been maintaining law&order in a difficult situation. Does the prospect of enforcing crimes like 'treason','subversion', 'separatism', 'foreign interference', 'terrorism'-all ill-defined & abusively applied in China-give them pause?

Another moment from yesterday: Black-clad raptors charge a crowd, their rifles pointed at them (a shocking image not long ago, now all too common). There's a brief stand-off. One person steps out from the crowd, & at a distance of about 10m, shouts at the raptors,"....

...'Kill us all, why don't you just shoot us all? You're #HK people, we're HK people-why are you doing this? Don't you realize you're going to be working for the #CCP when this law goes through?' There was a weird frozen moment when everything was silent...

...as if everyone, police & citizens, was briefly reflecting. Then back to usual, cops playing cops, protesters playing protesters, everyone acting out their roles as the #HK reality around them changes. The psychological adaptations (or lack thereof) will be interesting to watch

One group where the lobotomy is complete: the #HK govt & top police officials: their statements on 'pro-independence rioters' & how yesterday showed the need for 'national security' laws shows how entirely they've lost the plot & are simply dictated to from Beijing...

Of all the #HK freedom struggle's accomplishments, 1 thing we've never managed is to get #CCP allies in #HK to defect/withdraw support. Scholars of freedom struggles always identify this phenomenon as a crucial turning point. W/out it, it's hard to win.

Will the 'national security' laws change the calculations of regime supporters, #HK police, govt officials, tycoons? Or will they all just keep following the Party line? Tycoons 'vote' by moving their assets elsewhere & they're just replaced by Chinese companies. The others?

Some say this is the 'end of #HK'. I understand the need to sound the alarm (& it is indeed alarming!) but it's worth considering this is also possibly #CCP overreach, of which there's been many recent examples-Belt&Road, Xinjiang crackdown; aggressive, alienating 'diplomacy' etc

In other words, what are the limits of the Party's power? It often can appear omnipotent, but even for a such a powerful regime, there's a point at which something's gotta give. What is that point? It was easy to swallow Macau. #HK? We'll see....

The thing to keep in mind is that in brazenly breaking its '1c2s' obligations on #HK, #CCP isn't just swallowing up a colony; this is international aggression, like Putin annexing Crimea. #CCP is thumbing its nose at the international community. Which step is one step too far?

In this piece @stevenleemyers situates what #CCP's doing in #HK in context of its increasingly aggressive global actions. There's a reason why #HK protesters coined the hashtag #ChiNazi. The rest of the world didn't get it/felt offended. Do you get it now? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/world/asia/china-hong-kong-taiwan.html