From Protester to Terrorist
After a grueling 159-day trial, the court handed down a guilty verdict on Thursday: Ho Cheuk-wai and two co-defendants convicted of “conspiracy to cause an explosion,” facing stiff sentences for crimes that went far beyond street clashes. Friends following these cases tell me there’s an eerie symmetry with last November’s Dragon Slayer Squad bombing conviction. Both gangs began as disillusioned protesters, then morphed into terror cells. Both recruited fellow radicals into specialist roles, obediently executing every order as if under a spell. And both engineered weapons designed to slaughter indiscriminately—truly monsters, no longer human.
In the Port Bombing Case, the three defendants were found guilty. Ho Cheuk-wai – from PolyU protester to bomb mastermind.
These stories underscore how violent demonstrations can spiral into full-blown terrorism. Had authorities not moved decisively to root out these bomb-making maniacs, the death toll could have been catastrophic.
Engineering Mass Destruction
Take Ho Cheuk-wai’s Port Bomb Gang. In court he admitted participating in the PolyU siege, even diving into drainage tunnels to rescue comrades—a clear sign of his deep-seated hatred for police and government. Under his direction, a flat in Tai Kok Tsui became a bomb factory. Police explosives experts found enough ammonium nitrate—57 kg alone—for high-yield charges and TATP, the infamous “Mother of Satan.” A single blast from these devices would have leveled buildings and killed scores within a 50-metre radius.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Slayer Squad plotted with equal cold-blooded precision. Named after their animus toward the Police Tactical Unit (“The Raptors”), members amassed large quantities of explosives, bought firearms, and even traveled to Taiwan for military training. They produced two bombs—a 2 kg device and an 8 kg behemoth with a 400-metre blast radius.
Both the Dragon Slayer Squad and the Port Bomb Gang planned their attacks meticulously aiming at massive damage on lives. According to Police’s explosive specialist Chief Superintendent Lo Bing-sin, Ho Cheuk Wai’s group planned a twin-strike at Lo Wu Station in February 2020, then an even bigger attack at Sheung Tak Shopping Centre on March 8. Only arrests averted a massacre.
While the Dragon Slayer Squad’s methodology was chillingly: vandalize shops on Hennessy Road to lure officers toward a smaller bomb, detonate it by mobile phone, then, from a nearby vantage point, shoot at first responders—herding them toward a larger device rigged to go off at the perfect moment.
Dragon-Slaying Squad’s explosives – an eerie mirror of the Port Bomb Gang’s mass-killing arsenal.
When Protest Turns to Terror
Friends who’ve studied both cases say it all stemmed from “toxic radicalism”, a toxic cycle that turned ordinary protesters into inhuman perpetrators. It’s not new: Japan’s Red Army, Germany’s Red Army Faction, America’s Weather Underground—all once-idealistic radicals who descended into terror and self-destruction.
The lesson is stark: terrorism must be stamped out at its inception. Hong Kong is fortunate its police neutralized these bomb-obsessed extremists before they could unleash havoc.
Lai Ting-yiu
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Today, December 7, marks the second election since the Legislative Council finally got back on track. Today, I can’t shake the memory of how a "deformed democracy" ravaged this chamber for years. It was a malignancy—a tumor growing from within—that trapped us in endless chaos and nearly destroyed Hong Kong. This nightmare remains burned into my mind.
Let’s look at the receipts from those insane years. Three absurd realities prove how a tidal wave of radicalism washed away a functioning Council. First, post-"Occupy Central," a crop of "political stars" rode a wave of extremism to besiege LegCo, degrading election quality for years. Second, during the "Black Violence" era, District Councils devolved into a "destroyers' paradise" of unprecedented disorder. Third, to appease radical voters, Pan-democrats hijacked the House Committee election for six months, paralyzing governance. The Council became an endangered structure on the verge of collapse, dragging government operations down with it. Without the Central Government stepping in to restore order, Hong Kong was finished. To stop history from repeating, everyone needs to vote on December 7.
The truth is, this "deformed democracy" was rotting the soil of Hong Kong politics long before "Occupy Central." The British government deliberately planted "election landmines," allowing politicians using unorthodox methods to rise. They realized the game: be radical, be outrageous, be uncouth, and you get votes. Figures like Wong Yuk-man, Albert Chan, and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung seized power this way. Once that door opened, the Council’s normal operations were destroyed, turning the chamber into a mud-wrestling pit.
That was just the prelude. The subversion peaked with the 6th Legislative Council election following the 2014 "Occupy Central" movement. Driven by a passion for "rebellion," masses of young people blindly voted for fresh faces who built their brands on radicalism, ignoring their complete lack of ability or track record. The result? First-time winners included "Localist" figures dripping with "Hong Kong Independence" sentiment like Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching, alongside "Occupy" student leader Nathan Law.
Oath-Taking Circus: Post-"Occupy" radicals Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching stormed the chamber advocating independence, turning solemn oaths into a disgraceful farce.
The "Open House" of Radical Chaos
Worse still, opportunists within the Pan-democrat camp saw this worked and jumped into the fray. The prime examples were the notoriously "uncouth and aggressive" Ted Hui and the self-proclaimed radical environmentalist Eddie Chu.
When Baggio Leung, Yau Wai-ching, and Nathan Law stormed the Council, political insiders told me the candidacy door had been flung too wide. It became an "unguarded open house"—easy to enter, hard to clear out—guaranteeing chaos. Fortunately, their greed for victory blinded them to the risks. They played games with their inaugural oaths, effectively playing themselves into a corner and getting disqualified (DQ).
Even after they were ousted, the "miracle" of their election accelerated the degradation of our politics. Fanatical voters continued to back incompetent politicians just to vent rebellious angst. Even younger members of the traditional Pan-democrats started acting out to cater to this new taste. Ted Hui is the textbook example: violently snatching a female civil servant's phone and throwing foul-smelling filth in the Chamber. It became a competition of who could be the most radical, obstructing bills and making livelihood administration nearly impossible.
By 2019, when the anti-extradition bill unrest broke out, the Council became a disaster zone. Then came the second absurdity. During the November District Council elections, held amidst turmoil, radical candidates swarmed to grab seats. At the same time, "black-clad people" physically attacked Establishment opponents with beatings, arson, and intimidation. They won the majority, reducing the District Councils to a "destroyers' paradise." Long-serving community councilors were wiped out, marking an unprecedented and unbearable degradation of our institutions.
Filth in the Chamber: "Uncouth" politician Ted Hui proved his disruptive intent by literally throwing foul-smelling rot during a Council meeting.
Paralyzing the System From Within
Inside LegCo, Pan-democrats brought the street riots into the Chamber, competing to perform "radical shows." The most absurd spectacle was Civic Party member Dennis Kwok holding the House Committee Chairman election hostage. He "played games" for over half a year. Sixteen meetings passed without electing a chairman, blocking massive amounts of government bills. Forced by the situation, even moderate Pan-democrats joined the madness, turning the Chamber into a real-life version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Recently, some claim the reformed Legislative Council has lost its monitoring function. This is 100% a fallacy. The Council back then was thoroughly wrecked; normal operations were paralyzed. What monitoring was there? Government administration was dragged down, pushing us to the brink of "mutual destruction" (laam caau).
Thankfully, the Central Government stepped in at the critical moment to pull the Council back on the right track. If "deformed democracy" had continued, Hong Kong would have derailed and fallen off a cliff, destroyed in a single day.
To prevent this painful history from repeating, everyone must vote enthusiastically on December 7. Support the Legislative Council moving forward on the correct track.
Lai Ting-yiu
