Protester shot in chest by live police round during Hong Kong protests

it has happened in the US many times. The most obvious example is Kent State

It can happen anywhere because fundamentally we are very tribal in nature. It is very easy in our minds to objectify nonmembers and treat them inhumanely.

People defending pepper spraying kids (protesting) sitting on a sidewalk...

1. Everyone that's read the news in the last few years knows this young people can be shot by police in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice

2. This link is about what's happening in Hong Kong, not the US, and this sort of what-about-ism isn't informative or helpful.

It also doesn't make sense. The shooting of Tamir Rice may have been an accident, or racism, or the pernicious combination that occurs when systemic racism results in more "accidents" against people of color. None of those things are in play in Hong Kong.

As a UK citizen, I'd be pretty worried about this kind of thing happening in the US. The US police seem incredibly violent and often unprovoked.

> As a UK citizen, I'd be pretty worried about this kind of thing happening in the US.

A police officer shooting somebody that is physically attacking them with a metal club in a violent riot that involves firebombs being thrown at police officers? I would neither be surprised nor worried if that happened in the US.

Now, if they just opened fire at unarmed, peaceful protestors, I'd be worried (though not surprised that much).

I think it is helpful because it’s asking for consistency.

People are (rightfully) outraged when a protestor dies in Hong Kong, but protestors also die in the US.

For example, the Kent State shootings: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

The point is that if you’re demanding a certain standard from China or other countries, you should demand that in the US as well.

> People don't think this sort of thing can happen in the US

Yes we do.

Its one of the reasons i avoid visiting the US besides the obvious TSA/Immigration controls.

> if you’re demanding a certain standard from China or other countries, you should demand that in the US as well

America not being a dictatorship, there are people demanding this. Through elected leaders. Through independent courts. Through Constitutionally-protected assembly and protest.

None of the above apply in China. And they’re rapidly eroding in Hong Kong, too.

Yes, we should be outraged by police violence in America. But it’s a matchstick to the blast furnace that is Xi’s regime of secret police, political repression and concentration camps.

I'm unsure of how far along HK is in the reintegration prices with China. That being said, there is a strong case to be made that the Chinese have every right to eliminate dissidents and protesters regardless of whether these unscrupulous individuals were assaulting law enforcement, as China generally forbids such activities and these individuals are putting thousands of lives at risk by perpetuating these events.

In the United States, they still have some semblance of a first amendment. Drawing these parallels, is why it is apropos.

Kent State happened almost 50 years ago, and for the recent years people are outraged when protestors get shot to death by US police. There's even movements dedicated to fighting the fact that some groups of people get shot more often than others in the US.

I think this kind of what-about-ism by comparing to the US contributes absolutely nothing to the current discussion around police violence in Hong Kong. Unless it's used as an analogy to actually make sense of the situation ("the police are doing what they're doing at Kent State, can we learn something from that which would be applicable in this situation?") it only distracts from the topic at hand rather than actually discussing the morals and context of what's happening in Hong Kong, which is what this link is about.

And you assume that people are not outraged when protesters die in the US? Did you even read the very article you quoted?

"There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of 4 million students,[10] and the event further affected public opinion, at an already socially contentious time, over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War."

Yes, America has serious, serious problems with police violence. But pointing out injustice does not necessitate bringing up every other similar instance of injustice. It is not helpful, and distracts from the issue at hand.

"...there is a strong case to be made that the Chinese have every right to eliminate dissidents and protesters..."

Wow, that's almost like it's something worth protesting for months and months on end. /s

This wouldn't be expected behaviour in the UK. Our riot police carry shields, not guns.

Comparably to China in HK might be UK in Northern Ireland. I do remember them being somewhat less de-escalating than you make it sound.

In any case, you mentioned it happening in the US, that's what I was commenting on. I cannot imagine US cops not using their guns when attacked in that way. There is a point to be made about general strategies and not letting it escalate to the point where protesters throw molotov cocktails on police, but I don't know that either UK or US cops would simply disengage and give up parts of town to mob rule.