致 香港市民：

反對《逃犯條例》修訂草案運動由六月至今已經四個月，社會上不斷出現大大小小的示威抗爭活動，包括起初的百萬人和平遊行集會、「三罷」、逐漸演變到佔路、圍堵政府建築物，及近來的十八區「遍地開花」。種種跡象皆顯示出市民爭取民主自由之火依然熾熱。

然而，政府冥頑不靈，依賴所謂「唯一的」執法部門——香港警隊，進行各種濫權、濫暴、殘害人民之舉，無日無之。林鄭月娥特首「亡羊補牢」，宣佈撤回逃犯條例修訂，惟警民衝突早已愈演愈烈，為時已晚。示威活動並未有因政府各項所謂民生措施而有減退跡象。

經過長達四個月之抗爭，政府應當反省施政、檢討執法尺度、全數落實市民之「五大訴求」。然而政府卻倒行逆施，公然行使制度暴力，帶頭破壞法治，竟以一條1922年港英政府訂立的《緊急程況規例條例》，繞過立法會推行《禁止蒙面規例》。此舉不但摧毀三權分立，加劇社會分裂，實在令人髮指！

白色恐怖早已籠罩香港社會，市民因發表意見或參加和平集會而被解僱的情況屢見不鮮。推行禁蒙面惡法只會更嚴重地剝削香港市民參與和平集會的權利。連日的抗爭活動可見，此舉不但未有為局勢降溫，更加劇了警隊濫捕！警隊甚至以此惡法作藉口，心懷惡意地對採訪中的記者作出搜查，妨礙新聞自由，更無理拘捕戴口罩的醫護人員，無差別對待異見人士。我們對此表示強烈譴責！

警暴不斷升級，除多次惡意推撞及以高強度閃燈騷擾在場工作的記者，亦被揭發對已被捕的示威者執行私刑。近期更變本加厲，隨意使用實彈槍企圖謀殺香港市民。例行記者會上指鹿為馬，惡意抹黑示威者之舉更令人心寒！警隊所謂的執法行動不僅完全無法體現自身專業，其所作所為更已上升至戰爭罪行層面！「權力愈大、責任愈大」，香港法律授權警隊執法，同時出示委任證和警員編號乃警員在《警隊條例》規定下的應有責任。本應為執法者的香港警隊卻凌駕法律，視之如無物，如同置香港法治於死地！除此以外，警隊每晚到民居隨意驅趕路過的市民，並屢次出言恐嚇與濫捕，形同宵禁！我們對香港警隊及包庇其惡行的香港政府再一次予以最強烈的譴責！

我們促請香港政府立刻落實五大訴求，同時與警暴割蓆，絕不再以假對話敷衍香港市民，才能真正平息社會動盪，讓香港重新站起來。

五大訴求，缺一不可!
立即撤回禁蒙面法！

Four months into the movement against the extradition law amendment bill that began in June, Hong Kong has seen unrelenting protest activities of various scale. These include the initial marches and assemblies attended by millions, the citywide “three strikes”, occupations of roads and sieges of government buildings, to the gradual evolution into the “blossoming” throughout all eighteen districts of Hong Kong. There is no lack of signs that Hong Kong people's determination remains steadfast in their pursuit for freedom and democracy. Yet, under the shelter and arrogance of a government that disregards the voices of its people, our “one and only” law enforcement authority — the Hong Kong Police Force continues its abuse of authority, abusive use of force and cruelty against the people, with no end in sight. Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s announcement of a formal withdrawal of the extradition law amendments could only be seen a belated attempt to “mending the folds after the sheep has been stolen”, with police-citizen conflicts long since escalated. Protests have not been dampened by the government’s so called livelihood-focused measures either.

After four months of protests, the administration ought to reflect on its governance, address its bias in law enforcement, and fully accede to the five demands raised by the Hong Kong people. Regrettably, it has done the exact opposite, opting instead to wield systemic violence against citizens and spearheaded the destruction of our rule of law; using the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, a law established by the colonial government in 1922, it bypassed the Legislative Council in implementing the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation. This utterly outrageous move not only undermines separation of powers, but also exacerbates fracture in our society. As white terror looms over Hong Kong, we are have seen incidents where citizens faced termination of employment for expressing their opinion or participating in peaceful protests. The Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation only serves to even more severely undermine Hong Kong citizens’ right to peaceful assembly, and as days of protests have clearly shown, it has not contributed in deescalating the current situation, but conversely, it has worsened the situation of abusive arrests by the police. We have even seen incidents where, using this regulation as an excuse, police officers vindictively search journalists, obstructing press freedom, and even arrested ambulance personnel. We express our strongest condemnation on police officers’ “undiscriminating” treatment of individuals holding dissenting views.

Police violence continues to intensify; not only have officers been seen in brutally shoving journalists at the frontlines and attacking them with strong flashlights, but they have also been discovered to have exercised torture on arrested protesters, and recently have even arbitrarily shot Hong Kong citizens with live ammunition. Their regular police press conference tells blatant lies and serves as a smearing campaign against protesters. Their so called “law enforcement” actions not only shows an utter failure in adhering to professionalism, but have amounted to the severity of war crimes. “With great power, comes great responsibility”: Hong Kong’s laws give power to the police as the law enforcement authority, and it is an express duty under the Police General Orders to provide warrant cards and identification numbers. The ones tasked with law enforcement have ironically become the ones who trumps over the law with no respect to its authority, in essence a death sentence on Hong Kong’s rule of law. In addition, police’s routine dispersal of passers-by in residential areas, coupled with verbal threats and arbitrary arrests, is tantamount to Martial Law. Once again, we express our strongest condemnation on the Hong Kong Police Force, and the Hong Kong government who has shielded their crimes with impunity.

We urge the HKSAR government to immediately accede to the five demands, stop perfunctory, meaningless “dialogues”, and say no to police violence. Only then can the conflict in our society be calmed, and Hong Kong get back to its feet.

一群熱愛香港的會計師

2019年10月10日