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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 001203 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2032 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ELAB SOCI CH HK MC
SUBJECT: MACAU LABOR DAY PROTEST MARRED BY VIOLENCE 
 
REF: 06 HONG KONG 1818 
 
Classified By: E/P Chief Laurent Charbonnet.  Reasons: 1.4 (b,d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: An estimated 2,400 Macau residents 
participated in labor and anti-corruption demonstrations on 
May 1 that turned violent after demonstrators veered off the 
approved march route and clashed with police.  Police fired 
five warning shots into the air and the violent clash 
resulted in ten arrests and injuries to 21 police officers. 
Critics called the police actions "inappropriate;" The Macau 
Police defended their actions as necessary in preventing a 
stampede.  According to the head of security of a major 
Western-invested enterprise, the fracas in Macau represented 
a "total failure" of police planning, tactics, training, 
discipline and equipment.  End Summary. 
 
Protestors Demand Action on Illegal Labor and Corruption 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) More than 2,000 Macau residents participated in 
street demonstrations largely focused on illegal labor and 
anti-corruption issues on May 1.  Police and demonstrators 
clashed after protestors veered off an approved march route, 
prompting police to respond with pepper spray and to fire 
five warning shots into the air.  A 50-year old resident was 
wounded while riding a motorcycle near the protests; Macau 
authorities are investigating whether police fired the shot 
that injured the man.  Acting Commissioner of the Public 
Security Police Force Lei Siu-peng defended the actions of 
the Police force during a May 2 press conference.  "The 
officer fired the shots with the aim of dispersing the crowd 
as he saw some people starting to fall and feared they could 
trample each other.  We see that as a justified reason (to 
fire shots)."  Democratic legislator Jose Coutinho, who 
participatedin the march, called the warning shots 
"absolutey inappropriate." 
 
¶3. (SBU) he scuffle between protestors and police resulted 
in ten arrests and injuries to 21 police officers.  Police 
said there were an estimated 2,400 demonstrators; organizers 
claimed 10,000 participants.  (Note: Last year's Labor Day 
demonstration also turned violent and resulted in four 
arrests and injuries to 25 police officers.  Police did not 
fire shots last year (reftel).  End Note.) 
 
¶4. (C) Democratic legislator Antonio Ng, who participated in 
the demonstration, told us on May 2 that the labor issues 
prompting the protests were largely the same as last year 
(complaints over illegal and/or imported labor).  Some new 
themes had emerged this year, however, noted Ng, including a 
demand for a comprehensive minimum wage and a crackdown on 
corruption.  Ng speculated that, in light of the recent 
corruption scandal involving former Transport and Public 
Works Secretary Ao Man Long, the Macau Government was "overly 
sensitive" about perceived challenges to its authority. 
Perhaps this led to the stronger use of force during the May 
1 demonstrations, said Ng. 
 
Political Fallout 
----------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The fracas in Macau represented a "total failure" of 
police planning, tactics, training, discipline and equipment, 
according to the well-connected head of security of a major 
Western-invested enterprise there, himself a 20-year veteran 
of the Hong Kong Police.  Senior Macau law enforcement 
officials told this source after the incident that, despite 
the supportive words of the Acting Security Police Chief Lei 
Siu-peng, the police actions yesterday were being widely 
criticized in and out of Macau's Government, including 
growing questioning by the usually complacent press and 
legislators.  The source added that Lei has had a series of 
scandals or missteps in recent months (many hushed up) and 
this will add to his woes.  Macau authorities are bracing for 
briskly critical phone calls from Beijing, which is likely to 
see the incident through the prism of the 2008 Olympics 
spotlight and even as exploitable by Taiwan independence 
activists as a bad example of the meaning of "one country, 
two systems," our source quoted his Macau Government contacts 
as saying.  Our source surmised that Chief Executive Edmund 
Ho will be doubly troubled by this incident -- besides likely 
criticism from Beijing, it may have been the demonstrators' 
"purposeful" veering toward the funeral home where his 
brother's body is lying in state that caused the police to 
overreact.  Our source expected that many Macanese would feel 
sympathetic to labor's plight -- even his own staff, 
 
HONG KONG 00001203  002 OF 002 
 
 
comprised mostly of retired Macau police ("not the most 
liberal of people") had expressed such sentiments today. 
 
Tactical Mistakes 
----------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The policemen's mistakes were reminiscent of bad 
tactics that modern police forces gave up decades ago, said 
the corporate security chief.  The police knew long in 
advance about the annual May 1 demonstration but did little 
to prepare, having become complacent because labor activists 
have been protesting weekly (in smaller numbers) for more 
than a year.  The police used the wrong equipment and used it 
incorrectly: they used the small, round shields long ago 
abandoned by most forces in favor of the much larger, long 
shields which protect most of the policeperson's body.  They 
used their batons indiscriminately, in "wild flailing" at the 
protestors' heads and faces, rather than the more effective 
and less dangerous targeting of elbows and knees ("where the 
nerves are").  Detectives were sent into the crowd ahead of 
the riot squad, which hung back.  Detectives, said our 
veteran source, should not be sent into the crowd unless they 
have a specific mission to snatch ring-leaders, gauge the 
mood of the crowd or collect intelligence.  It was the 
detectives, not the "relatively well-trained" riot squad, 
which got surrounded and lost control of the crowd, and 
finally fired shots into the air.  Modern tactics in Hong 
Kong and almost everywhere else do not allow warning shots at 
all, and frown upon even unholstering weapons unless use is 
imminent, said our source. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment:  Yesterday's incident is more than just a 
poorly-managed demonstration.  It brings together in 
microcosm several troubling trends within Macau's government 
and society, trends which may challenge future social 
stability and U.S. interests.  In the middle of an 
unprecedented economic expansion fueled in large part by 
American gambling interests, the increasingly flush Macau 
government is perceived as doing little to protect the most 
vulnerable members of society, including the poorly educated 
blue collar workers whose jobs in manufacturing have moved 
into mainland China.  These groups feel they have not 
benefited much from the massive construction now underway, 
because of the government's facilitation of low-wage mainland 
laborers and failure to staunch the flow of illegal foreign 
workers.  The Macau Government's ability to deal with these 
challenges is hampered, by all accounts, by alleged 
corruption at all but the highest levels and an accelerating 
hollowing-out of the government and security forces as 
foreign investors hire away senior officials and those with 
competence or skills.  The tactical and disciplinary mistakes 
of the Police yesterday seem to attest to the effects of this 
hollowing out.  Finally, Beijing's likely anger at 
yesterday's debacle may well spur increased micromanagement 
and intervention from the central authorities, who already 
are placing mainland officials in certain important law 
enforcement "advisory" positions.  End Comment. 
Cunningham