Well readers, Girl Behind the Lens – Daiyu Tang here. I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but I damn well did. Let’s see, what was it I said? Oh yes:
Now, the agitators among the population of Hathian somehow think that I don’t have legitimate reason to think like this; that they and HPD won’t come to blows and disrupt the whole point of the protest, i.e. making HPD change. HPD don’t change over the barrel of a gun, knife or whatever. Christ, let’s do a little research Hathian ok?
- Defund the Police – 2022: Let’s see this one included a protestor dressed up as a cop using a sex toy as a weapon against officers, before Officer Fyre then decided to use his patrol car as a bowling ball against protestors. What’s the link, oh? Citizen Agitators and Police Brutality. Force invites Force and does anyone here realistically believe that HPD stands by when officers go down under a rain of dildo blows?
- Saturday Night Chaos – 2017: Oh look which Group was an instigator this time, “We have it on good authority that the Rejects made an appearance, instigating the violence and really pushing the event from a peaceful gathering to a full scale riot that needed calming”. Here again a peaceful protest is used to advance the agenda of gangs, facing off against the HPD that they see as just another gang to battle with; legitimate accusations, actual HPD crime of concern to ordinary citizens? Not important. Screw finding the actual corrupt cops through painstaking work of the media (or others), just shoot HPD right? That’s how to make life better for Hathian citizens.
- ‘Peaceful Protest‘ – 2014: Hmm… deja-vu much? The chants of “No more cops, no more hate, no more prisons, smash the state” would have been fine, except guess what, agitators brought weapons to the fight and… HPD responded in excess force, “Remember officers! If they ain’t bleeding and crying, you aren’t doing your job!”
- ‘Protest descends into violent chaos‘ – 2013: Ok, does this title need much explanation? We’ve got protest accusations of miscarriage in jail, sexual assault by HPD officers and so on, but again… police wrong-doing, highlighted on the day is undermined by damage to police property leading to guess what… violence both ways.
- ‘HPD burns as protest turns ugly‘ – 2012: Seeing a pattern here, once a year, (at least that often as this depends on being captured in the Observer archies) there’s an orgy of violence. What was it this time? Oh yes… “A few leading the protest instigated the violence” and “During this time a bomb was set off within the HPD, causing an explosion that rocked the building” which guess what was followed by HPD shooting into the crowd for ‘safety’. Are you with me now readers? HPD crime leads to Protest, which leads to agitators taking pot shots at HPD which leads to HPD taking out everyone… the snake eating the tail comes to mind.
That’s probably enough digging into the past – the Observer only covers so much after all. But I do want to move on, but not without sharing this story; some gang members, even some disillusioned citizens say change doesn’t happen. But my research of Hendrich Andel, the former head of the Hathian PD shows that with time, effort and hard work, justice does come to HPD… If together citizens and other civil society and law enforcement can get the HPD Chief arrested? What more can be done when we work together? I’d suggest lots. I believe (as I hope you do) that change is positive and that even the hardest hearts can change for the better. Would it be the case to suggest in 2023 that HPD is perhaps just a little ‘better’ than in 2022 and in-turn 2022 was better than 2021? Afterall… I’ve not seen an HPD execution in their parking lot since I’ve been here; some of you have.
The 2023 Protest
Well, that was the history, best now to focus on what we saw this time round. Firstly, if congratulations were in order then the organisers should take some credit for this was surely one of the most attended protests in the last few years, more-so than even the 2022 ‘defund’ movement. When I attended the scene I think, inclusive of HPD officers there must have been over 50 people, probably closer to 60+ involved in the protest in some capacity, whether that was actively participating or just observing.
The protest spread by tweets, including by Tori who posted this banner, calling people to the protest. Whether she was the overall leader or not, directing the event is unclear, although considering the different outcomes it feels more likely that everyone took whatever chance they could get to cause their chaos or put forward their grievances under the generic banner below:
So, it’s been quite hard to unpick what happened at the protest. Some of this was due to our reporters being scattered through the event (and arriving late in some cases) and some of it was just due to the sheer volume of activity and then later, the ambiguity and even disinformation spread on social media like Twitter.
A reporter gets ‘taken over’
One of the first things I noted behind my camera was some TV reporter I didn’t know (to be honest I am not sure who all the freelance Observer colleagues are!) be bundled off and replaced by Andy Fabers, who somehow found the stage to her liking.
“I’m Andy and I’m live reporting this shit dick here being on the ground on account of he’s a pussy and I’m the reporter now. Stay on me doofus or I’ma take ya kidney. Mkay so like…we’re outside HPD where the cops defo look in each other’s butts for funsies mkay. You know Officer Cade Morgan though? He’s like…totes a King Street Bone helper. And he’s a sergeant! Dun dun dun! Listen! Listen mkay! The HPD has like torture rooms in their place right? They call it isolation but it’s like BDSM for weirdos with beardos. I once seen a cop eat a cake donut. Dry. No icing! And he didn’t even like coffee. CAKE DONUTS ARE VILE MKAY! Down with HPD!”
Andy Fabers – live on State TV just before she stomped on the reporter, Itachi Kobayashi who was on the ground
This rant continued for a while until presumably the tear gas (and/or) the local TV company cut the live feed.
The water pistols – or rather the ‘drug pistols’
It wasn’t entirely clear, but research across the event and then afterwards indicated that water pistols brought by various protestors were laced with a street drug called LOW. This seemed to cause some quite interesting behaviour both around town, but also on Twitter, where for example Simona appeared to go on quite a downer, eventually posting that:
This street-drug, ‘LOW’ was also identified as potentially one of the stimulants used at a recent community rave where there was some suggestion of drug related intoxication. While there are a number of players involved in the drug ‘market’ in Hathian, typically large scale distribution of a standard product is the preserve of gangs who either import or manufacture themselves. Perhaps a topic for the Observer to explore with the King-Street, Koga or Rejects in due course.
So with some officers and/or protestors doused in a psychoactive drug it was clearly going to be easy for things to kick-off.
Escalating activities
It was a fast moving scene, but a few things jumped out at me:
“I SUGGEST YOU STAY DOWN THERE YA FUCK’N CUN’”
Atsuko Nakama – HPD officer as she shot Macen with rubber bullets before turning to shoot Andy Fabers
I’ve heard a few things about ‘Naka’ before, including that she has been accused of firing blind into fleeing civilians / prisoners when HPD burned during the Christmas time bombing. I didn’t see what Macen had done (if anything) to provoke this, but with the drugs, tear gas and general air of violence around it’s quite possible the use of rubber (not real) bullets was justified, certainly HPD were outnumbered.
Andy’s dildo knife
I also saw Andy attempt to stab the journalist with some kind of dildo knife, but either Atsuko or someone else’s shot knocked her down screaming to the ground, still apparently on live TV…
“BOOB DOWN! I REPEAT BOOB DOWN! HPD HATES BOOBIES!”
Andy Fabers – after being shot, apparently in the chest.
Ming’s family ‘cover-up’
Over on the other side of the protest, I spotted Ming Yheng and possible family members going down in a melee. The picture below, requiring a censor bar to remain family friendly shows Ming, topped to the ground what what I understand is her daughter or niece or some other family member. Whether she had instigated any violence or was just caught in the cross-fire of HPD, I wasn’t able to assess, but I would have the opinion that Ming was just doing her own thing…
Black Crow Down…
Next, I spotted Lucy getting tasered by Landon. What the small girl had done (apparently something to do with climbing an FDH fire engine) wasn’t clear and the Observer wasn’t able to confirm with her, although we understand she was released from jail pretty quickly, perhaps indicating either that bail was paid, or there wasn’t much in the way of a crime.
Post Protest Round-up
Well, Twitter was quiet for a bit post protest (wonder if most were nursing a LOW hangover, or were in jail themselves!). Besides from some usual recriminations on social media and then some suggestions of police brutality it appears that, so far, nothing much has come from it, although for a while there was some suggestion of FDH and HPD rivalry, which seems to build on a previous encounter witnessed at the beach a few weeks back by myself.
My view? HPD and FDH probably need a history lesson. Disputes aren’t required between professionals involved in saving (mostly) lives.
Finally, what was this really? It was the usual orgy of violence, misdirection, chaos and anger that accompanies Hathian. Legitimate concerns around policing reduced to a chance to spray drugs at each other, shoot protestors for a ‘high score’ or cause criminal damage. I wonder if anyone thinks their aims were achieved, except for that agent of chaos Andy Fabers? If you did what you set out to do – drop the Observer a line and share with us…
Protest Gallery
((Photo Credits in the Gallery – Darkstalker Darkfold))
