MACAU LABOR DAY PROTEST MARRED BY VIOLENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 001203 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP AND EAP/CM NSC FOR WILDER E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2032 TAGS: PGOV PREL ELAB SOCI CH HK MC SUBJECT: MACAU LABOR DAY PROTEST MARRED BY VIOLENCE REF: 06 HONG KONG 1818 Classified By: E/P Chief Laurent Charbonnet. Reasons: 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: An estimated 2,400 Macau residents participated in labor and anti-corruption demonstrations on May 1 that turned violent after demonstrators veered off the approved march route and clashed with police. Police fired five warning shots into the air and the violent clash resulted in ten arrests and injuries to 21 police officers. Critics called the police actions "inappropriate;" The Macau Police defended their actions as necessary in preventing a stampede. According to the head of security of a major Western-invested enterprise, the fracas in Macau represented a "total failure" of police planning, tactics, training, discipline and equipment. End Summary. Protestors Demand Action on Illegal Labor and Corruption -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) More than 2,000 Macau residents participated in street demonstrations largely focused on illegal labor and anti-corruption issues on May 1. Police and demonstrators clashed after protestors veered off an approved march route, prompting police to respond with pepper spray and to fire five warning shots into the air. A 50-year old resident was wounded while riding a motorcycle near the protests; Macau authorities are investigating whether police fired the shot that injured the man. Acting Commissioner of the Public Security Police Force Lei Siu-peng defended the actions of the Police force during a May 2 press conference. "The officer fired the shots with the aim of dispersing the crowd as he saw some people starting to fall and feared they could trample each other. We see that as a justified reason (to fire shots)." Democratic legislator Jose Coutinho, who participatedin the march, called the warning shots "absolutey inappropriate." ¶3. (SBU) he scuffle between protestors and police resulted in ten arrests and injuries to 21 police officers. Police said there were an estimated 2,400 demonstrators; organizers claimed 10,000 participants. (Note: Last year's Labor Day demonstration also turned violent and resulted in four arrests and injuries to 25 police officers. Police did not fire shots last year (reftel). End Note.) ¶4. (C) Democratic legislator Antonio Ng, who participated in the demonstration, told us on May 2 that the labor issues prompting the protests were largely the same as last year (complaints over illegal and/or imported labor). Some new themes had emerged this year, however, noted Ng, including a demand for a comprehensive minimum wage and a crackdown on corruption. Ng speculated that, in light of the recent corruption scandal involving former Transport and Public Works Secretary Ao Man Long, the Macau Government was "overly sensitive" about perceived challenges to its authority. Perhaps this led to the stronger use of force during the May 1 demonstrations, said Ng. Political Fallout -------------- ¶5. (C) The fracas in Macau represented a "total failure" of police planning, tactics, training, discipline and equipment, according to the well-connected head of security of a major Western-invested enterprise there, himself a 20-year veteran of the Hong Kong Police. Senior Macau law enforcement officials told this source after the incident that, despite the supportive words of the Acting Security Police Chief Lei Siu-peng, the police actions yesterday were being widely criticized in and out of Macau's Government, including growing questioning by the usually complacent press and legislators. The source added that Lei has had a series of scandals or missteps in recent months (many hushed up) and this will add to his woes. Macau authorities are bracing for briskly critical phone calls from Beijing, which is likely to see the incident through the prism of the 2008 Olympics spotlight and even as exploitable by Taiwan independence activists as a bad example of the meaning of "one country, two systems," our source quoted his Macau Government contacts as saying. Our source surmised that Chief Executive Edmund Ho will be doubly troubled by this incident -- besides likely criticism from Beijing, it may have been the demonstrators' "purposeful" veering toward the funeral home where his brother's body is lying in state that caused the police to overreact. Our source expected that many Macanese would feel sympathetic to labor's plight -- even his own staff, HONG KONG 00001203 002 OF 002 comprised mostly of retired Macau police ("not the most liberal of people") had expressed such sentiments today. Tactical Mistakes -------------- ¶6. (C) The policemen's mistakes were reminiscent of bad tactics that modern police forces gave up decades ago, said the corporate security chief. The police knew long in advance about the annual May 1 demonstration but did little to prepare, having become complacent because labor activists have been protesting weekly (in smaller numbers) for more than a year. The police used the wrong equipment and used it incorrectly: they used the small, round shields long ago abandoned by most forces in favor of the much larger, long shields which protect most of the policeperson's body. They used their batons indiscriminately, in "wild flailing" at the protestors' heads and faces, rather than the more effective and less dangerous targeting of elbows and knees ("where the nerves are"). Detectives were sent into the crowd ahead of the riot squad, which hung back. Detectives, said our veteran source, should not be sent into the crowd unless they have a specific mission to snatch ring-leaders, gauge the mood of the crowd or collect intelligence. It was the detectives, not the "relatively well-trained" riot squad, which got surrounded and lost control of the crowd, and finally fired shots into the air. Modern tactics in Hong Kong and almost everywhere else do not allow warning shots at all, and frown upon even unholstering weapons unless use is imminent, said our source. ¶7. (C) Comment: Yesterday's incident is more than just a poorly-managed demonstration. It brings together in microcosm several troubling trends within Macau's government and society, trends which may challenge future social stability and U.S. interests. In the middle of an unprecedented economic expansion fueled in large part by American gambling interests, the increasingly flush Macau government is perceived as doing little to protect the most vulnerable members of society, including the poorly educated blue collar workers whose jobs in manufacturing have moved into mainland China. These groups feel they have not benefited much from the massive construction now underway, because of the government's facilitation of low-wage mainland laborers and failure to staunch the flow of illegal foreign workers. The Macau Government's ability to deal with these challenges is hampered, by all accounts, by alleged corruption at all but the highest levels and an accelerating hollowing-out of the government and security forces as foreign investors hire away senior officials and those with competence or skills. The tactical and disciplinary mistakes of the Police yesterday seem to attest to the effects of this hollowing out. Finally, Beijing's likely anger at yesterday's debacle may well spur increased micromanagement and intervention from the central authorities, who already are placing mainland officials in certain important law enforcement "advisory" positions. End Comment. Cunningham