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

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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
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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
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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,

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comprised mostly of retired Macau police ("not the most
liberal of people") had expressed such sentiments today.

Tactical Mistakes
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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