Opinion | In one voice, Hong Kong demands an independent inquiry into the unrest. Why won’t Carrie Lam say yes?

The Hong Kong government is effectively dead in the water, unable to either do what must be done to defuse the crisis, or convince its masters in Beijing that clamping down harder on the protests is not a solution. After more than five months of increasingly violent unrest, there is not one scintilla of evidence to support this strategy. On the contrary, it is clear that anger at and, in some cases, downright hatred of the police has been the trigger for protesters’ more extreme reactions.

There is much talk of the need for dialogue. But just as you need two to tango, dialogue requires the participation of two parties at least willing in principle to work to find some common ground on which to build reconciliation, something that is currently sorely lacking.

The shocking escalation in violence that we have witnessed over the past two weeks underlines the urgency for both sides to step back from the brink, before further deaths and serious injuries occur. The wanton destruction of our campuses, railway stations and shopping malls, the blocking of key motorways and attacks on ordinary citizens simply trying to get to work are not just unacceptable, they are becoming counterproductive.

Because the public has, by and large, been sympathetic to the demands of the protesters, they have patiently tolerated a good deal of interference in their normal lives – much as they did during Occupy Central. But scenes of ordinary residents going out to help clear blocked roadways are an important straw in the wind that sentiment is beginning to turn.