Police to upgrade intelligence gathering

Hong Kong police are upgrading their intelligence-gathering capability to combat the escalating violence in the protests against the now-suspended extradition bill.

Learning radical protesters' intentions before violent demonstrations begin has become the police's priority, said Lam Chi-wai, chairman of the Junior Police Officers' Association.

Five years after the 79-day "Occupy Central" movement, protests have not only become more violent, but are also better-organized. It is much more difficult to identify the core organizers as they keep their communications anonymous on social-media platforms, he said.

Protesters are meticulous and experienced in organizing and directing assemblies on online forums. Instant-messaging apps like Telegram and Apple's ad-hoc network AirDrop are the new tools, Lam said.

He said that these platforms' servers are based overseas, and users are anonymous, making it difficult for police to identify the people involved, Lam said. Moreover, it's easier to mobilize a large number of people — often in the thousands — in a very short time on online platforms, he said.

As a result, learning how to effectively crack down on a violent protest beforehand using targeted intelligence-gathering tactics has become a priority of the police, Lam said.

Recently, protests have occurred nearly every weekend. A typical demonstration combines "Occupy" and the Mong Kok riot in 2016, Lam said. In the daytime, a group of protesters would "occupy" an area, and later, at night, radicals would clash with officers trying to disperse them, resulting in a flare-up as violent as that in the Mong Kok riot, Lam said.

On Sunday, protesters joined illegal assemblies and demonstrations at multiple locations on Hong Kong Island to distract police, he added.

Even though police have reviewed and added manpower and equipment after the two large-scale social upheavals, the new model of social movements has presented challenges to the police, Lam said.

The protesters have also tried to manipulate public opinion against police by spreading false and damaging information online, he said.

Officers must adjust public relation strategies to refute rumors to clarify the public's misunderstanding and boost the morale of the force, Lam said.

Meanwhile, the protesters are also fully equipped with gas masks, helmets and goggles in confrontations with the police. The masks have made it hard for police to identify the offenders.

Chan Man-tak, chairman of the Superintendents' Association of the Hong Kong Police Force, called for legislation to ban people from hiding their identities with masks in demonstrations. Similar regulations in the United States and some European countries can serve as references, he said.

Wilkie Ng Wai-kei, chairman of the Hong Kong Police Inspectors' Association, agreed, expressing his believe that banning protesters from hiding their identities would be enough to deter many people from participating in violent demonstrations.