When a police officer fired bullets at masked protesters in Hong Kong on Monday morning, the scene went viral online across the city and mainland China.
What happened was not in dispute, but their perceptions were wildly different.
While Hongkongers were outraged and questioned the officer’s use of live ammunition, viewers in the mainland put the blame squarely on the protesters, including the 21-year-old student who was shot.
“The police officer was firing to save his life from the cockroach. He did nothing wrong,” said a top comment on the Weibo social media site popular among mainland Chinese users.
The divergence highlights the wide divide in public opinion between mainland China and the
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Nov 12, 2019