i interviewed a pro protest policeman last night to better understand what goes on within the police force and who are the nameless transformers we face every weekend. this is going to be a thread on some of the things we discussed. 1/

he’s a constable, been in the police force for 12years and was also deployed during the umbrella movement, which he sees as a negative turning point in the relationship between public and the police. before that he was proud to be an officer 2/

he is not at the frontlines because he isn't trained for the tactical units. but he gets called in for backup, for cordon lines etc. “90% of the time we are just showing force, not using it,” he says luckily so far he hasn’t been ordered to use force. 3/

when asked, what would he do if he was ordered to use force, would he disobey? his response “nobody has dared to disobey. if i was ordered to fire, i would still fire, but i would miss the shot. i'd act dysfunctional," 4/

he also says management continues to remind them to be responsible in the use of force and to fear the consequences (though there hasn’t been any thus far), but commanders on the ground still order the use of force 5/

he sees the identification of blue and yellow as a turning point in the pf's attitude. all protesters, peaceful or not, are yellow and all the supporters blue. this otherness helps policemen justify the use of force to themselves. “they see protesters literally as roaches,” 6/

he has never expressed his true views to any of his colleagues. “it’s a witch hunt,” he says. there are whatsapp groups for gossip, where colleagues report on those who seem yellow. staying quiet isn’t enough,he is forced to loudly pretend to support the ccp to not be outed. 7/

he also told me policemen are drawn closer to china by programs that give their kids scholarships to chinese universities, career prospects etc 8/

when asked if he has thought about quitting he said “everybody wants to quit. it’s not an easy job,” citing long work hours, isolation from friends, family and the general public. but, he can’t quit because he has to support his family 9/

but he assured he would quit if the hkpf became the chinese pf. i asked how would he know if it had become the chinese pf? he laughed and said he can’t be sure, but would quit if he felt that there had been a drastic change. 10/

he also hinted that some of the escalation of violence comes from the overtime pay the police force gets. "we are getting extra pay for OT, and the worse the situation the more OT," 11/