12 September 2009, Saturday

This town's abuzz, there's talk about tomorrow's march in protest for the beating of Hong Kong journalists covering the reports of syringe attacks in Urumuqi, Xinjiang last week. A loud voiced elderly man was seen chanting slogans in Cantonese today as he walked down a main street in Central District. "We must protest the beating of our journalists! JOIN THE MARCH!" he said.

And so it remains to be seen how this act of civic responsibility will play out tomorrow, and whether there will be remedial actions to better the situation.

Beatings and threats of violence are no way for advanced societies to behave.

Let's uphold higher standards for ourselves comrades! Are we Chinese, a civilized people, able to withstand the pressure of well-intentioned scrutiny by journalists tasked with the duty of reporting on facts? Or are we going to continue to draw the scorn of the worldwide press corp?

Tweet