Aerial photo taken on July 1, 2019 shows a formation which spells out the words "I LOVE HK" to celebrate the 22nd birthday of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in south China's Hong Kong. Photo: Xinhua

A widely-supported Hong Kong alliance that advocates for stability and eradicating violence published a letter on Monday, the first day of the new semester, calling for an end to school bullying targeting the children of police officers.

Safeguard Hong Kong published its letter on some 10 Hong Kong media outlets including Ta Kung Pao, calling on Hong Kong school principals to take effective measures to prevent all forms of school bullying. "Never let violent politics tarnish the vulnerable minds of students," reads the letter. 

Some people have attempted to bring the city's social confrontations into schools and have even targeted the children of police officers, said the letter. Some people have even threatened to harm these children and have posted the personal information on the internet, according to the letter that Safeguard Hong Kong also sent to the Global Times on Monday.

The alliance said school bullying has a serious negative impact on primary and middle school students. Hong Kong's next generation will be seriously poisoned and violence will flood campuses if schools fail to immediately stop school bullying, said the letter. 

The letter said that a small number of students who had participated in illegal protests may try to isolate, tease and bully students who do not support their position. Some radical students have threatened to boycott classes, the letter noted.   

A wife of a Hong Kong police officer who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Monday that many spouses of police officers are deeply worried about hate-filled online messages targeting police families. 

"I seldom make contacts with other parents, and I told my children to never reveal their father's identity," she said. She purposely didn't answer the question about her husband's occupation on a questionnaire from her child's primary school this year. 

The woman said her family's address and phone number was revealed online after she included her husband's profession on an application form at another school. She said she has not sent her child to that school since then. 

Shortly before the beginning of the new semester, Hong Kong police gave children of police officers personal sound alarms, but that information, including a picture of the sound alarm, was exposed online, said the woman.

"Now, if you use that alarm, everyone will know you are a member of a police family," the wife said. 

In response to possible school bullying cases in the new semester, Safeguard Hong Kong convener Kennedy Wong Ying-ho said that the alliance will accept complaints of school bullying, transfer those cases involving violence to police and urge schools to strictly follow up all cases and punish bullies.

The alliance has been joined by influential figures such as Leung Chun-ying, former chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and Tam Yiu-chung, former DAB president and deputy to the National People's Congress. 


Newspaper headline: Organization calls to end bullying of children of police