Is Avery Ng toast? The League of Social Democrats activist is being tried for common assault after throwing a fish sandwich in the direction of then-Chief Executive CY Leung last year. CY, known for his cunning and devious ways, nimbly evaded the item. A dutiful if perhaps less-agile policeman courageously managed to intercept it – an act of self-sacrifice that resulted in nasty stains on his shirt.
(The gastronomes among us may wonder what sort of fish sandwich. Assuming that Hong Kong’s foremost Trotskyist radicals would find sardines too exotic and consider salmon too bourgeois, it was presumably tuna, on plain proletarian white bread – probably from 7-Eleven.)
Ng had mentioned at the time throwing an Indian chicken roll, and a fellow LSD member has previously been charged with throwing an egg at then-Financial Secretary John Tsang. This does not reflect a thing about food as such. But the group has a tradition of creative direct action – as displayed by ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung’s banana-wielding and other protests over the years in the Legislative Council chamber.
The trial of Avery Ng is one of a lengthy series of politically motivated legal actions against higher-profile pro-democracy activists. Ng himself is involved in several others. Cases range from arguably serious-sounding to frivolous and result from the Liaison Office’s post-Umbrella Movement purge of Hong Kong’s opposition. It is taking ages; maybe the Chinese Communist Party’s locally based henchmen didn’t realize how long legal proceedings would take, or maybe they don’t care.
One victim of all this is new leader Carrie Lam’s expressed wish to unite and heal Hong Kong’s divisions. Another is the government’s prosecutions function, as it laboriously chases dissidents for breaches of the law that in decades past would have been considered too silly to bother with. Each case also imperils the judiciary’s reputation for independence. (This perhaps answers the question of whether the Liaison Office ogres care about how this looks – the United Front’s obsession with crushing supposed threats to national security overrides anything else. Chances are, the Mainland officials are happy about using this process to intimidate not only activists but judges.)
The longer the process drags on, the more vindictive but also ridiculous it seems. Wolf vs Sandwich-Psychopath is perhaps particularly laughable because it highlights the former Chief Executive’s thin-skinned and humorless nature. It also symbolizes – and betrays – the insecurity and vulnerability of the authorities. Whatever the verdict, the sovereign power and its local puppet regime look desperate, wetting themselves over a sandwich.
Don’t be rude about 7-11 sarnies…! Their Chicken Teriyaki ones are to die for… (interestingly, dishes are sometimes named after famous people -viz Peach Melba, Pavlova etc….. “Chicken Teriyaki” is similarly named after a rather unsuccessful Japanese kamikaze pilot..)
From “Uncle Gerald’s Nature Notes”
Well, children, I’m sure you know all about “Flying Fish”, but did you know about the “Flying Fish Sandwich”? I have heard rumours before, but now a report has surfaced (no pun intended!), from a little fishing village on the shore of far-away China! They say a flying fish sandwich actually attacked the honest mayor of that village, and his life was only saved by the action of one of his loyal servants, who shielded the mayor with his own broad chest. Goodness me! Those diligent fisherfolk, chatting in their tuneful language, weaving nets on their junks, would never weave a yarn like that, so I’m sure it happened. Children – beware at teatime!
@Des Espoir: I second that. Chicken teriyaki = 2 slices of bread with chicken, sauce and a bit of green for $ 13- Buy 2 and you have lunch. I eat it once a week, always satisfying and less than half the price of Subway’s chicken that looks like it was pickled in formaldehyde, and probably is. You can also get deli-wiches from the same chill box.
On 1 October 2012, at approximately 20:23 HKT, the passenger ferries Sea Smooth and Lamma IV collided off Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. … With 39 killed and 92 injured, the incident was the deadliest maritime disaster in Hong Kong since 1971.
Five years later the report has still not been released. Compare this to the ferry disaster in Korea that helped to topple the president and many heads rolled.
Here in Honkers only the captains and a few Marine officials have been taken to court.
What about Hong Kong Electric management that operated an obviously defective boat to ferry its staff.
Were there issues with the equipment on the Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry boat?
Why have people never agitated on this issue. Instead we have courts full of trivial cases like sandwich throwing.
No wonder Hong Kong is in the state it is when the reasons for the loss of 39 lives have never been pursued and people do not even seem to care. This is truly shocking.
First it was assault by mammary gland, and now it’s assault by soft, wet fish sandwich.
While one can entirely understand why a half-baked communist clown like 689 might be outraged by such an attack upon his worthless amour propre, it is highly demeaning for the fuzz to allow themselves to be associated with this sort of pathetic infantilism.
Dear me! What have “Asia’s Finest” come to? “Big Bill” Fullerton must be turning in his grave.