Due to COVID-19, Hong Kongers have slowly left behind the trauma of non-stop daily barrage of mob violence and vigilante actions that have plagued the City in the second half of 2019. As a city, we have become accustomed to the lull of quiet and peaceful streets in these past few months.

And yet, just as the City is slowly emerging from the stupefied state of virus lockdown, some anarchists decided to drag us screaming back into the abyss.

Our phones have been receiving videos and photos from friends and families, all witnessing the fact that part of Causeway Bay has degenerated into a state of anarchy as a result of a group of roaming mobsters. What has really incensed us is that one of the victims is a lawyer; one of the very profession sworn to uphold and defend the Rule of Law.

To say that we are incensed really is an understatement. We are angry beyond words; that our City has once again been dragged into this mire because certain individuals deem that Hong Kong has not suffered enough from the prolonged series of senseless and widespread destruction of public facilities and retail shops, acts which are equivalent to terrorism in any other part of the world.

We have always stood resolutely against, and loudly condemned, all forms of unlawful violence. Today we have a personal reason to once again stand up and say enough is enough. Our City needs peace. We need to be able to rebuild from the ashes and smoking ruins that the rioters are leaving everywhere they invade. We need the violence to stop.

We call upon all lawyers, regardless of political stance, to condemn this insane and inhumane behaviour that is happening on the streets. We throw down this gauntlet:

• if you turn a blind eye to this brutality,

• if you attempt to contort yourself and defend the indefensible,

• if you demur to condemn in the face of such overwhelming barbarianism,

then, don’t call yourself a lawyer. You can be a politician. But you are not fit to be part of the profession and an officer of the court that is called to defend the laws of the land. And you know it.

If this ‘freedom to attack’ is what the mobs want for Hong Kong, then this is truly a tragic foreshadowing for Hong Kong’s future.