HK government and police lose their minds – shots fired to clear streets of fish balls

Happy Chinese new year everyone from Hong Kong! The city where on the first day of the new year people should be out and about enjoying time with friends and families. When there are so many people out and about this is OF COURSE a great time to make some extra money, especially if you’re in the business of food & beverage and especially if you sell food on the streets. On the first day of the new year’s it’s always a tradition for families and friends to head out to places like Mong Kok or Causeway Bay to just hang out and enjoy the city, part of that “enjoyment” being consuming traditional Hong Kong street food like fish balls.

Well, some genius in the government and the Hong Kong police thought it would be a GREAT idea that on the first day of the new year, instead of allowing people to enjoy themselves and allowing some of the people on the lowest rung of the financial ladder in Hong Kong to make some money to start the year off right, they came in to clear all these street hawkers out of the way by donning riot gear. This was known to happen and so an incredibly radical group in Hong Kong (not necessarily the brightest bunch – their stupid attacks on mainland Chinese is despicable) were well prepared for the chaos that ensued (goggles, shields, homemade weapons). Riot broke out with ordinary HK people throwing bottles and bricks and whatever they could, and the police losing face and control decided to fire back with pepper spray and even warning shots.

This is the death of Hong Kong. You’re witnessing it right now.

Happy new year.

UPDATE: Vice just wrote an article about it here: https://news.vice.com/article/fishball-revolution-creates-chaos-on-hong-kong-streets-during-lunar-new-year-fest?utm_source=vicenewstwitter

WATCH: When #ChineseNewYear goes wrong! Police fire warning shots at protestors in #HongKong (via @SCMP_News) pic.twitter.com/WCv0QVBMvo

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) February 8, 2016