Television news has lately been awash with violent scenes in Hong Kong. Public utilities and shops are vandalised. Public transport and streets are blocked. Train carriages are set on fire. Passengers are assaulted by masked black-shirts without reason. University campuses are ransacked. Women are brutalised. A 70-year-old street cleaner lost his life after being hit by a randomly thrown brick. A man who opposed violence in the street was badly burnt after the mob soaked him with combustible liquid.

However, Western reporters and commentators never label the perpetrators as criminals.