Thread by @AMFChina

This has become a vicious circle of #HongKongPoliceForce brutality leading to increasingly militant counter-actions by protesters. It’s very hard to see where the off ramp is /1

https://twitter.com/rhokilpatrick/status/1165564719937150976

As I have stated previously the HKSAR government has morphed into a local mafia state. Carrie Lam is politically responsible for the militarization and weaponization of the #HKPF and their collusion with Hong Kong triads /2

But the radical wing of Hong Kong’s protest movement seems to have concluded that in order to deal with Carrie Lam and her Beijing overlord Xi Jinping one needs to ‘fight fire with fire’ /3

As @Aureliano_no_24 and I have consistently argued nonviolent campaigns of noncooperation are empirically proven to be more effective to destroy dictatorships than violent means /4

Those who still believe in the utility of violent resistance should watch this interview with Gene Sharp, an intellectual giant and peace activist whose scholarship has helped bring about regime change around the world /5

Time and again I have pointed out that there are 198 methods of nonviolent direct action and noncooperation. While some have been tested in Hong Kong it is increasingly clear to me that Hong Kong activists lack knowledge and training in these methods /6

With the current dynamic it is just a matter of time that we’ll see a highly symbolic casualty - on the protesters or police side - which will accelerate this downward spiral of police violence and militant counter-measures /7

To summarise: The #HongKongPoliceForce has become a People’s Armed Police (PAP) in disguise. Hong Kongers increasingly see the #HKPF as an occupying force. My concern is that we may have already passed the point of no return /8

But don’t expect a repeat of Tiananmen in Hong Kong. Instead we are fast approaching Northern Ireland 2.0 /End

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