11 ms·

Hong Kong student leaders and their families face anonymous threats

222 points by kzzzznot 7y ago

tines 7y ago
> “I don’t understand why my home had to be searched when I would be unconditionally released,” he said. Fong said officers did not take anything from his home. I'm sure they were there not to take something, but to leave something.
- NedIsakoff 7y ago
  They don't need to, the search itself is intimidation.
  - cronix 7y ago
    I believe OP meant in terms of planting listening devices, video cameras, spyware placed on computers, etc.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  Or perhaps he was unconditionally released because they did not find anything during the search...
PaulHoule 7y ago
Are these the "large character signs" which were widespread in the Cultural Revolution?
jadbox 7y ago
Heartbreaking and terrifying. I also recommend listening to yesterday's The Daily podcast on China's claimed release of Uighurs. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/podcasts/the-daily/china-xinjiang-uighur-detention.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/podcasts/the-daily/china-...
- Lendal 7y ago
  It was a good one, and timely. My thought listening to that podcast was that the Chinese government wouldn't expend this kind of effort and expense to silence people en masse unless they felt vulnerable.
  - ep103 7y ago
    authoritarian governments always feel vulnerable, the same way cheaters in relationships always feel a little insecure, and criminals are more likely to feel suspicious and guilty.
ShaneXie 7y ago
hk protestors? more like losers can't find a job in hk and refuse to find any opportunities from mainland. All tier 1 cities are better than hk now tbh, time to wake up.
emilfihlman 7y ago
Interesting that we have China chills on HN, too. They are always way too obvious.
La-ang 7y ago
No one thought of reaching out to Facebook to see who this Lee is? Oh wait, Facebook can't be reached XD, and please see FAQ related to death threats lol
Willson50 7y ago
Every Chinese celebrity have written the exact same post on their social media [1-3]. I don’t know if their views are genuine but it definitely feels like a coordinated social media campaign by the government. These posts are made inorganically as most of these celebrities have never shared their political opinions before. All of the sudden they’re posting the same things on the same day. It’s extremely strange. [1] https://twitter.com/layzhang/status/1161521747243520008?s=21 https://twitter.com/layzhang/status/1161521747243520008?s=21 [2] https://pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/201908/14/htm_2019081419132179786.jpg https://pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/201908... [3] https://m.imgur.com/6tIRGSJ https://m.imgur.com/6tIRGSJ
- admk 7y ago
  Because the news of the journalist got beaten up by the protesters went viral. There were more than 4 billion views on the related searches [1]. I will refrain from commenting on politics (don't have the time to contribute) but must say that I found both sides are incredibly biased against each other. [1]: https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%88%91%E4%B9%9F%E6%94%AF%E6%8C%81%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%AD%A6%E5%AF%9F%23 https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%88%91%E4%B9%9F%E6%94%AF%E...
  - gruez 7y ago
    >Because the news of the journalist got beaten up by the protesters went viral Given there's a history of the government using provocateurs. I'd take that with a grain of salt.
  - gwathk 7y ago
    The "journalist" has no official record of him[1]. He also held a travel visa to Hong Kong and failed to show press pass on the scene[2]. It is wrong to do this to anyone and the protestor organized an apology session in HK airport the next day.[3] [1]: (if you read chinese) http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/554875/%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E8%A8%98%E8%80%85%E8%BA%AB%E4%BB%BD%E5%AE%98%E7%B6%B2%E7%84%A1%E4%BB%98%E5%9C%8B%E8%B1%AA%E7%B4%80%E9%8C%84 http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/554875/%E5%8D... [2]: https://www.facebook.com/HKJA.official/posts/10157252898460309?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBtQKTihskUb4dJtnNXIiDR0IC-zLwC8VR8_3SoRPZR-PbTl43U7ki6hmGRd-g6hIOqqCtUqo_fjZabJZA2Galspr36kRqhCqBmJtBApI1qcA8XwW0NXJON-6aoh2Z0ynlH9zugf0ROmhwV_H6nmKLXs055MljSuficYUvsIFIGoObMQu0HI2GjkhULSoiZCAnWQpFw0KRL0-oxNbjg27-cCiyPgcYJ4L_fdIfFQTUr6NzZCa0teaDHJDd56bhdrStDfrwO_nMjnA1QEWu5htlcwGFYvPfdaSO-r1D7SszSR0qCZBkLkV_RmTeGx-xKw4qoiMasMnN7PVay&__tn__=-R https://www.facebook.com/HKJA.official/posts/101572528984603... [3]: https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/order-returns-hong-kong-airport-protesters-apologize https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/order-returns-hong...
hnModsRDanger 7y ago
Reminder that even in democracy, our celebrities get threats from the government. I am unsure how we can ever keep government accountable.
JulianMorrison 7y ago
For a country that talks a good game about order and the rule of law they sure act a lot like a desperate and lawless dictatorship.
- loyukfai 7y ago
  The police force is arguably dealing with the protesters as if they are the triads. Which is deeply ironic in that the police force were the ones who are strongly suspected in collusion with the triads: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16CiwPChpr0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16CiwPChpr0 And now sometimes the protesters are fighting the triads instead.
auslander 7y ago
They need to get armed and take all police stations and government buildings. Otherwise it will fizzle out as more and more of them get arrested. With big China ready to move in, should be done quickly, in one night, so next China's steps would look like invasion.
- auslander 7y ago
  Its reality, discussions won't work, and China is scared of another Tiananmen. Or, at least, take one policeman for everyone detained, and publicly swap them.
sittingnut 7y ago
given how restrained the government response has been, given the protesters' violence and property damage, i doubt this was coordinated by either gov. other cleverer attritional responses like boycott and pressure on businesses sympathetic to protesters (eg. cathy pacific ceo was forced to resign today for not readily firing few pilots and employee participating in protests) is more likely way they will go, as ordinary people inevitably get tired of rather aimless protests.
- natdempk 7y ago
  I normally wouldn’t comment on a thread like this, but is this a sock puppet? The protests have pretty clear demands and calling them aimless feels weird.
- vorpalhex 7y ago
  A column of APCs and PLA heading into Shenzhen.. super restrained. I'm sure those protestors are so lucky to the CCP to not be Tiananmen Square 2.0... Really?
  - sittingnut 7y ago
    keep repeating the propaganda since facts don't match.
nobody0 7y ago
Some of those protesters did beat up the guys from mainland included one reporter in the airport two days ago. [0] Besides, a Japanese reporter had his camera broken by some of them. He was also told that they wanted to be portrayed as victims to gain sympathy. [1] Last but not the least, some of the leaders of the protest is going to US/UK to study, I wonder what will happen when they leave. You can go hate the gov't as usual, that's fine but be careful what you are signing up for. We are in a multiverse of info wars. [0] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022782/global-times-journalist-beaten-hong-kong-protesters-given https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022782... [1] https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/66271 https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/66271
- SimbaOnSteroids 7y ago
  It should be noted that there are almost certainly agent provocateurs embedded within the protestors. It would be unlikely that the CCP wouldn't take this step given their other overt displays of force and seeming giddiness to make an example of the protestors that they wouldn't take the extra step to make the protestors look as bad as possible.
  - nobody0 7y ago
    When some of those protesters broke into the legislative council of HK, threw China' flags into the ocean, swung US/UK flags, beat up random drivers on the street. They don't need the CCP to make them look bad.
    - gwathk 7y ago
      How do these actions look bad to you, apart from "beat up random drivers"? And where you see the news of beating up random driver?
      - theseadroid 7y ago
        Does this action look bad to you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdxXCTpHARQ&list=LLFo7VgFlg9gZOsrDUio3sQw&index=2&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdxXCTpHARQ&list=LLFo7VgFlg9...
tempguy9999 7y ago
This is exceedingly off-topic so feel free to flag, but real question, I happened to be browsing the news and saw some very odd written characters in the large background here https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20807099/trump-tariffs-china-trade-policy-democrats https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20807099/trump-tariffs-china-t... This meeting is reportedly happening in shanghai, but those symbols look very vaguely like extremely ancient chinese and not remotely like anything modern. Can anyone explain them?
- lioeters 7y ago
  They're the earliest known form of Chinese writing, known as "oracle bone script". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script
gabrielblack 7y ago
In youth I lived in a place where organized crime was rooted. If it's true, as appear, that the government is behind that intimidation campaign, it's very sad to see a sovereign state to act like mobsters against students.
lvl4x 7y ago
Not to undermine how serious the situation is and that these people are risking a lot by fighting for independence, but I wish we had fewer of these 'oh my god, people are getting death threats' headlines. Anyone and everyone get hate and threats for unpopular opinions online, it's not news.

222 points by kzzzznot 7y ago

> “I don’t understand why my home had to be searched when I would be unconditionally released,” he said. Fong said officers did not take anything from his home. I'm sure they were there not to take something, but to leave something.

NedIsakoff 7y ago
They don't need to, the search itself is intimidation.
- cronix 7y ago
  I believe OP meant in terms of planting listening devices, video cameras, spyware placed on computers, etc.
mytailorisrich 7y ago
Or perhaps he was unconditionally released because they did not find anything during the search...

PaulHoule 7y ago

Are these the "large character signs" which were widespread in the Cultural Revolution?

jadbox 7y ago

Heartbreaking and terrifying. I also recommend listening to yesterday's The Daily podcast on China's claimed release of Uighurs. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/podcasts/the-daily/china-xinjiang-uighur-detention.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/podcasts/the-daily/china-...

Lendal 7y ago
It was a good one, and timely. My thought listening to that podcast was that the Chinese government wouldn't expend this kind of effort and expense to silence people en masse unless they felt vulnerable.
- ep103 7y ago
  authoritarian governments always feel vulnerable, the same way cheaters in relationships always feel a little insecure, and criminals are more likely to feel suspicious and guilty.

ShaneXie 7y ago

hk protestors? more like losers can't find a job in hk and refuse to find any opportunities from mainland. All tier 1 cities are better than hk now tbh, time to wake up.

emilfihlman 7y ago

Interesting that we have China chills on HN, too. They are always way too obvious.

La-ang 7y ago

No one thought of reaching out to Facebook to see who this Lee is? Oh wait, Facebook can't be reached XD, and please see FAQ related to death threats lol

Willson50 7y ago

Every Chinese celebrity have written the exact same post on their social media [1-3]. I don’t know if their views are genuine but it definitely feels like a coordinated social media campaign by the government. These posts are made inorganically as most of these celebrities have never shared their political opinions before. All of the sudden they’re posting the same things on the same day. It’s extremely strange. [1] https://twitter.com/layzhang/status/1161521747243520008?s=21 https://twitter.com/layzhang/status/1161521747243520008?s=21 [2] https://pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/201908/14/htm_2019081419132179786.jpg https://pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/201908... [3] https://m.imgur.com/6tIRGSJ https://m.imgur.com/6tIRGSJ

admk 7y ago
Because the news of the journalist got beaten up by the protesters went viral. There were more than 4 billion views on the related searches [1]. I will refrain from commenting on politics (don't have the time to contribute) but must say that I found both sides are incredibly biased against each other. [1]: https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%88%91%E4%B9%9F%E6%94%AF%E6%8C%81%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%AD%A6%E5%AF%9F%23 https://s.weibo.com/weibo?q=%23%E6%88%91%E4%B9%9F%E6%94%AF%E...
- gruez 7y ago
  >Because the news of the journalist got beaten up by the protesters went viral Given there's a history of the government using provocateurs. I'd take that with a grain of salt.
- gwathk 7y ago
  The "journalist" has no official record of him[1]. He also held a travel visa to Hong Kong and failed to show press pass on the scene[2]. It is wrong to do this to anyone and the protestor organized an apology session in HK airport the next day.[3] [1]: (if you read chinese) http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/554875/%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E8%A8%98%E8%80%85%E8%BA%AB%E4%BB%BD%E5%AE%98%E7%B6%B2%E7%84%A1%E4%BB%98%E5%9C%8B%E8%B1%AA%E7%B4%80%E9%8C%84 http://cablenews.i-cable.com/ci/videopage/news/554875/%E5%8D... [2]: https://www.facebook.com/HKJA.official/posts/10157252898460309?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBtQKTihskUb4dJtnNXIiDR0IC-zLwC8VR8_3SoRPZR-PbTl43U7ki6hmGRd-g6hIOqqCtUqo_fjZabJZA2Galspr36kRqhCqBmJtBApI1qcA8XwW0NXJON-6aoh2Z0ynlH9zugf0ROmhwV_H6nmKLXs055MljSuficYUvsIFIGoObMQu0HI2GjkhULSoiZCAnWQpFw0KRL0-oxNbjg27-cCiyPgcYJ4L_fdIfFQTUr6NzZCa0teaDHJDd56bhdrStDfrwO_nMjnA1QEWu5htlcwGFYvPfdaSO-r1D7SszSR0qCZBkLkV_RmTeGx-xKw4qoiMasMnN7PVay&__tn__=-R https://www.facebook.com/HKJA.official/posts/101572528984603... [3]: https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/order-returns-hong-kong-airport-protesters-apologize https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/order-returns-hong...

hnModsRDanger 7y ago

Reminder that even in democracy, our celebrities get threats from the government. I am unsure how we can ever keep government accountable.

JulianMorrison 7y ago

For a country that talks a good game about order and the rule of law they sure act a lot like a desperate and lawless dictatorship.

loyukfai 7y ago
The police force is arguably dealing with the protesters as if they are the triads. Which is deeply ironic in that the police force were the ones who are strongly suspected in collusion with the triads: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16CiwPChpr0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=16CiwPChpr0 And now sometimes the protesters are fighting the triads instead.

auslander 7y ago

They need to get armed and take all police stations and government buildings. Otherwise it will fizzle out as more and more of them get arrested. With big China ready to move in, should be done quickly, in one night, so next China's steps would look like invasion.

auslander 7y ago
Its reality, discussions won't work, and China is scared of another Tiananmen. Or, at least, take one policeman for everyone detained, and publicly swap them.

sittingnut 7y ago

given how restrained the government response has been, given the protesters' violence and property damage, i doubt this was coordinated by either gov. other cleverer attritional responses like boycott and pressure on businesses sympathetic to protesters (eg. cathy pacific ceo was forced to resign today for not readily firing few pilots and employee participating in protests) is more likely way they will go, as ordinary people inevitably get tired of rather aimless protests.

natdempk 7y ago
I normally wouldn’t comment on a thread like this, but is this a sock puppet? The protests have pretty clear demands and calling them aimless feels weird.
vorpalhex 7y ago
A column of APCs and PLA heading into Shenzhen.. super restrained. I'm sure those protestors are so lucky to the CCP to not be Tiananmen Square 2.0... Really?
- sittingnut 7y ago
  keep repeating the propaganda since facts don't match.

nobody0 7y ago

Some of those protesters did beat up the guys from mainland included one reporter in the airport two days ago. [0] Besides, a Japanese reporter had his camera broken by some of them. He was also told that they wanted to be portrayed as victims to gain sympathy. [1] Last but not the least, some of the leaders of the protest is going to US/UK to study, I wonder what will happen when they leave. You can go hate the gov't as usual, that's fine but be careful what you are signing up for. We are in a multiverse of info wars. [0] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022782/global-times-journalist-beaten-hong-kong-protesters-given https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022782... [1] https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/66271 https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/66271

SimbaOnSteroids 7y ago
It should be noted that there are almost certainly agent provocateurs embedded within the protestors. It would be unlikely that the CCP wouldn't take this step given their other overt displays of force and seeming giddiness to make an example of the protestors that they wouldn't take the extra step to make the protestors look as bad as possible.
- nobody0 7y ago
  When some of those protesters broke into the legislative council of HK, threw China' flags into the ocean, swung US/UK flags, beat up random drivers on the street. They don't need the CCP to make them look bad.
  - gwathk 7y ago
    How do these actions look bad to you, apart from "beat up random drivers"? And where you see the news of beating up random driver?
    - theseadroid 7y ago
      Does this action look bad to you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdxXCTpHARQ&list=LLFo7VgFlg9gZOsrDUio3sQw&index=2&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdxXCTpHARQ&list=LLFo7VgFlg9...

tempguy9999 7y ago

This is exceedingly off-topic so feel free to flag, but real question, I happened to be browsing the news and saw some very odd written characters in the large background here https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20807099/trump-tariffs-china-trade-policy-democrats https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20807099/trump-tariffs-china-t... This meeting is reportedly happening in shanghai, but those symbols look very vaguely like extremely ancient chinese and not remotely like anything modern. Can anyone explain them?

lioeters 7y ago
They're the earliest known form of Chinese writing, known as "oracle bone script". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script

gabrielblack 7y ago

In youth I lived in a place where organized crime was rooted. If it's true, as appear, that the government is behind that intimidation campaign, it's very sad to see a sovereign state to act like mobsters against students.

lvl4x 7y ago

Not to undermine how serious the situation is and that these people are risking a lot by fighting for independence, but I wish we had fewer of these 'oh my god, people are getting death threats' headlines. Anyone and everyone get hate and threats for unpopular opinions online, it's not news.