Good morning,
Hope everyone had a great Christmas Day off! If you didn’t get a day off then thank you so much for making sure the city continues to run.
Although it seems some people took advantage of places staying open and breached COVID gathering regulations. Remember to not socialise in groups of larger than 4, especially outside of a building and to use the Leave Home Safe App!
Oh also the perceptive may have noticed that this weekend’s Tide didn’t have it’s usual paywall. Merry (half) Christmas present. If you want the whole thing the whole time the whole week, then consider subscribing or give yourself one month for free, on us, for Christmas.
~ Cyril
On Today’s Tide:
Operation Levington | In which the you get given fines for Christmas
COVID
Politics | City U to take down June 4th memorial
Events
Paid Readers Also Get:
Crime and Punishment | Child abuse scandal has Carrie Lam criticizing
Straight from the Press Release:
Persons in custody participate in Christmas activities (with photos)
Operation Levington: Cool name for a cool Christmas
On Christmas Eve, police mounted ‘Operation Levington’ where they swept through bars, restaurants and party rooms across Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Mong Kok, fining party-goers and revelers who didn’t use the Leave Home Safe App. Over 100 were fined flat $5000 tickets.
Three of the party rooms raided were found to be illegal and three were arrested for questioning. Operators of legal bars and party rooms were also arrested if their customers were not using Leave Home Safe, vaccinated, or were in groups larger than what Cap 599 currently allows. Most were let off with a heft fine or are currently on bail.
Fun Fact: The codename Op. Levington has been used tons of time by the HKPF just in this year alone - earlier in August, it was used for another anti-COVID operation where a single drinker was fined $10,000 for not using Leave Home Safe, or wear a mask when he went to a bar in Kwai Chung.
In September, the name was used again for an anti-triad operation led by Commissioner Siu himself, a number of bars allegedly linked to the 14K and Sun Yee On were raided by the police. No indication of whether triad members were fined for not scanning before entering.
COVID news
Coronavirus in Hong Kong
New cases: 25
Active cases: 179
Omicron: 44
So many flight bans
Cathay Pacific, Korea Air and Emirates banned from operating flights to Hong Kong from London, Seoul, Bangkok and Dubai for 14 days
Two recently positive cases are local athletes. Their incubation period started before leaving Hong Kong, and those in close contact before they flew are now in quarantine.
Another statue bites the dust
The CUHK student announced earlier that they would be taking down their June 4th memorial - another replica of the Goddess of Democracy.
This comes after HKU and City U took down their respected memorials earlier this week, at times in darkness which has been read by some as being a method to avoid open criticism in day time.
Nonetheless, in contrast, the City U memorial will be taken down with both the Student Union and University Council together. An exact date has not been set but implications say it is very soon.
Events / Exhibitions etc
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We’ll throw in a free month of Paid High Tide for yourself or a friend!
Events from our partners
Recovery, Resilience, Resurgence: Photography Exhibition at the Asia Society
From the exhibition website:
“This exhibition’s photos show Hong Kong during consecutive periods, as it was seen around the middle of the last century. The images span some thirty years of great change: from the postwar recovery in 1946 – 1947, through the resilience of the 1950s, to the resurgence of the 1960s – 1970s. The photos were taken by three photographers. In the order of their Hong Kong work they were: Hedda Morrison, Lee Fook Chee and Brian Brake. Each had markedly different life backgrounds and photographic objectives.”
When: 14 December, 2021 - 6 March, 2022
Where: Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong
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