The Civil Human Rights Front, an umbrella organization of major opposition groups in Hong Kong which never registered with the authorities according to the relevant laws, announced its disbandment on Sunday, a few days after the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union was dissolved. Both organizations were mainstays of the anti-China camp but the CHRF had already seen some of its leading figures sentenced to prison terms for criminal offenses.
Their demise was widely considered inevitable and long overdue for their subversive acts and plots, but the CHRF had posed a bigger threat to the country’s interests for what it did throughout its 19-year illegal existence. Formed in 2002 to derail the national security legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law and richly rewarded by its US-led overseas patrons for pulling it off the following year, the CHRF went on to become the top shot-caller of coordinated and often-illegal political campaigns and plots against Beijing and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. Naturally it was made the “theater command” for the anti-extradition campaign in 2019, which was soon referred to as the “black revolution” for its unmistakable characteristics of a “color revolution” masterminded and run by external hostile forces. It remained the dominant force of the anti-government campaign until street riots had to stop because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Even then, it kept inciting criminal vandalism, culminating in the illegal “35-plus primary” poll in July last year, after the NSL was implemented in the HKSAR on June 30.
The CHRF practically fired the opening shot of the “black revolution” by organizing the first mass protest march on June 9, 2019, which was largely peaceful till the end, but on June 12 the peaceful demonstration turned into an extremely violent assault on the HKSAR government complex. It was a declaration of war and all the mass protests thereafter turned violent without exception. In August 2019, Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, then-convener of the CHRF, publicly excused himself and fellow organizers for being unable to foresee the dire consequences of the street riots they launched, saying that the “peaceful, rational and non-violent” principle of their campaign had its limitations. By that defense he practically emboldened rioters even more and rendered themselves criminally liable today. On July 1, 2019, the CHRF held another protest march along the usual route on Hong Kong Island, but scores of rioters took a detour at the end of the march and mounted a premeditated attack on the Legislative Council Complex; they pried open locked doors, smashed through tempered glass walls, ransacked the main hall and many offices, and caused extensive damage and huge loss of public sympathy for the opposition camp. On July 21, the CHRF held another demonstration. The rioters threw paint at the front entrance of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR and the national emblem at the front of the office.
As an unregistered entity the CHRF was responsible for organizing numerous mass rallies, legal or otherwise, and violent riots, but remained unaccountable for the physical and emotional harm they caused. It always blamed the government but especially the police and occasionally the “unruly youths” for letting things get out of hand but never the organizers themselves. The CHRF insisted there was “no command mechanism” to guide the demonstrations, and whatever unlawful behavior that entailed was purely spontaneous by individual participants. The CHRF never condemned the violence and criminal vandalism that happened during mass rallies and marches it held.
The CHRF never failed to take credit for drawing hundreds of thousands of people to mass rallies but kept its mouth shut on where all the cash “donations” went. Its murky financial transactions have rightly triggered suspicion of money laundering activities under the guise of “public donations”.
Every now and then it would swear its respect for the rule of law, citing the fact that it always applied for police permission before holding mass rallies as proof, even though very few if any were called off after the police refused to give the “no objection” nod. And it was never its fault that many participants routinely broke the Public Order Ordinance, got arrested for such offenses and sentenced to time in prison, in some cases repeatedly. So much so that the CHRF became synonymous with public security threats and property damage during street protests.
Although the CHRF is now disbanded, some of its followers remain hellbent on perpetuating its evil curse, such as on social media and/or by plotting terrorist attacks like the one on the night of July 1. In addition to pursuing CHRF leaders for their role in years of criminal activities, the law enforcement authorities must crack down on their successors, who are now doing their overseas patrons’ bidding in Hong Kong on their behalf. There is no doubt the “ghost” of the CHRF and its like will continue haunting Hong Kong as long as the anti-China forces remain committed to stopping China’s rise. It’s a battle that will not end with the folding of criminal enterprises such as the CHRF. In fact, a new kind of warfare against separatism and subversion has already begun, and we must not let our guard down.
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.