Hong Kong is on the edge of a precipice. Late into Tuesday evening, protesters at several locations hurled Molotov cocktails at police who fired back volleys of tear gas. Since the weekend, a protester has been shot by police with a live round, and a man horrifically set alight after confronting demonstrators. Violence that has been building for months has reached a critical pitch. With neither side appearing ready to back down, the danger is now real of a tragedy on a far broader scale.
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Both demonstrators and police are guilty of incidents of brutality. But blame for the current crisis must be laid primarily at the feet of the Hong Kong government and Beijing. Since the protests began in April, both have underestimated the demonstrators' seriousness and resolve. Concessions have been too little, too late. Had Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, withdrawn the extradition bill that originally triggered the demonstrations when they were still peaceful mass marches, she might have defused the situation.
Instead, she initially only suspended the bill instead of cancelling it, and only after the first bloodshed. This sent protesters a damaging if unintended message: that only violence brought results. Continued mishandling of the crisis by the Hong Kong authorities has led to the loss of their legitimacy in the eyes of much of the population. In a sign of how sentiment has shifted, office workers in suits could be seen cheering black-clad demonstrators in full battle dress as they ran through the city's central business district on Tuesday.