Nude Photos are Called White Terror in Hong Kong

Eight people have now been arrested and two charged in Hong Kong in what many netizens are calling the "white terror," police response to the Edison Chen sex photo scandal, explained by Police Commissioner Tang King Shing last weekend when he said possession of the photos alone is now illegal.

From the photo scandal's Wikipedia entry:

On 4 February 2008, A 29-year-old man became the eighth person to be detained in connection with the internet posting of nude photos. The man arrested is being detained at Ma On Shan police station. On the same day, the 23-year-old man, Sze Ho-Chun, arrested in Central on 2 February 2008 was charged with the dishonest use of computers with criminal intent, which has a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment. The man appeared in Eastern Court on 5 February 2008. He denied the charge and was released on HK$50,000 bail. The case has been adjourned to 22 February 2008.

Pornography is openly sold by many street newspaper vendors in Hong Kong and versions of the photographs have been seen on the covers of most Chinese-language dailies every day since the first batch of photos appeared online two weeks ago, despite that under the city's Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, distribution is prohibited. Hundreds of netizens came out to protest [zh] the arrests today, calling for Tang's resignation and accusing Hong Kong police of inconsistency in their arrests.

Blogspot blogger Hey Let Me Kiss just happened to pass by the protest and brings us photos and a short report:

With the League of Social Democrats in the lead, a group of several hundred netizens marched this afternoon from Victoria Park to police headquarters, protesting police double standards in assigning large numbers to investigate the celebrity obscene photos as well as launching criticisms at Police Commissioner Tang King Sing, shouting in unison slogans calling for his resignation. Organizers say more than 500 people took part, but the police count was at 230.

Chris "hkdigit" Lee has even more. YouTube user pc8898 was among several to film the event; here are two clips from user tytong1022:





Edison Chen now seems to be in hiding, and the one public statement he's made so far, also on YouTube, has been the object of many angry blog posts and renditions. A Facebook group calling for Tang King Shing to go to arrest Chen in his native Canada features a number of photos which go even further.

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