Media Intimidating Fans Of The Police: Chris Tang

Police Commissioner Chris Tang on Friday accused the media of "smearing" and trying to intimidate people who are “close and supportive” of his officers, saying this is “extremely unethical”.

At a Legco meeting, Tang accused a newspaper he didn't name of linking children who attended the police college open day on Thursday to "black violence", when they were in fact just innocent young people "having a great time".

The police chief’s comments came after Apple Daily ran a side-story on its front page, saying children who attended the open day were given toy guns to play with, inside a mock-up of an MTR carriage.

A photo showing such a scene had gone viral on social media, and the newspaper noted that many people said it reminded them of the shocking violence meted out by police officers on people at Prince Edward MTR Station on August 31, 2019.

The article ended with the line “With no sense of security on national security education day, what should we be teaching our next generation?”

Tang claimed the newspaper had been extremely unethical, not only by hurting the feelings of the children, but also trying to intimidate those who are close or supportive of the force.

He told the pro-Beijing council that there are still people in society who are “serving foreign forces and smearing the police”, adding that they are linked to those who have already been arrested for suspected national security offences.

“It’s always the same group of people trying to endanger national security. They will be arrested for sure,” he said.

During a separate Legco meeting, Education Secretary Kevin Yeung was also asked about the controversial photo.

Yeung told lawmakers that different people would have different reactions to the image, and it was simply not appropriate for him to make a general comment.

He added that schools will continue to educate children on the need to safeguard national security by incorporating the issue into every subject.