Volunteers clean up insulting slogans, graffiti and messes left in Hong Kong by radical protesters. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT

A group of Hong Kong youths launched a special "flash squad" activity on Sunday morning, erasing insulting slogans, graffiti and cleaning up the mess left in the city by radical protesters on Saturday.  

"Rioters made Hong Kong full of violence and hatred, and we don't want the hostility to influence tourists from the mainland," Ko Chung-kit, one of the initiators of the activity, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"I hope our move will narrow the divergence and let people know that there are Hongkongers who long for peace and love," Ko said. 

The youthful volunteers started their Sunday morning by cleaning up the Wan Chai district, which is a main attraction for tourists from the Chinese mainland and overseas.

"We don't want tourists to be frightened by protesters' slogans and mistakenly think that all Hong Kong residents are like them," said Ko.  

Hong Kong youth volunteers post some friendly slogans like "we're sorry, but please don't hate Hong Kong" and "Hong Kong, still on business" after cleaning up offensive graffiti. Photo: screenshot of video by Chen Qingqing/GT

Volunteers also replaced offensive graffiti with friendly slogans like "We're sorry, but please don't hate Hong Kong" and "Hong Kong is still open for business." 

This is not the first time that Ko and his followers have cleaned up the mess left by rioters. Last Saturday, similar activities were held at Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok.

Recent demonstrations in Hong Kong have all involved violent incidents after some protesters left their approved gathering places to cover exterior walls of buildings in black paint, and insult and threaten police, government officials and people from the mainland, leaving responsible residents to remove the smelly garbage left by protesters, Ko said. 

"We are all Hong Kong residents and Chinese, why are we hurting each other like this?" Ko said emotionally. 

Ko and other volunteers are worried about being attacked by radicals so they clean up in the morning, before the "rioters get up."

"The rain gave us some relief because we were willing to do cleaning in the rain while they weren't" willing to protest, Ko said.

Hong Kong needs neither radical nor peaceful protesters. The most important thing is to stop violence and hatred as soon as possible and rebuild the society with love, said Ko.

 "We are ordinary people and we just hope to bring peace and love back to Hong Kong by doing this trivial thing" said Ko. 


Newspaper headline: Youths clean up mess and hate left by rioters