Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s classic novel of societal breakdown, is part of the standard high school curriculum in Hong Kong. But today everyone in this most genteel of cities is witnessing a real-life lesson in the fragility of what we call civilisation, as the territory descends into tribalism and scenes of obscene violence.
On Friday, the protest movement that began in early June saw its first fatality when a 22-year-old student protester died after falling from a car park near a police clearance operation.
His death prompted an orgy of violence over the weekend and into Monday, when a policeman was filmed shooting a protester with live ammunition and the city was again brought to a standstill by mass violent protests. In one horrific incident, a man who had earlier been involved in scuffles with demonstrators was doused in flammable liquid and set alight.