Law-breaking demonstrators must be held to account

As a way of expressing their indignation over the desecration of China's national flag by some radical protesters on Saturday, a group of Hong Kong residents voluntarily organized a flag-raising and anthem-singing ceremony on Sunday morning in the place where the national flag was removed from the pole and tossed into the sea.

Indeed, not only Hong Kong people but all Chinese people felt affronted by such an act. The deliberate desecration of the national flag, the symbol of national dignity, is intolerable. It is an act directly challenging national sovereignty. The culprits must be condemned in the strongest terms and punished in accordance with the law.

External forces who are trying to contain China's rise and their local proxies - including members of the political opposition, who have their own political agenda to promote in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - have unfailingly cited "freedom of expression" in defending and encouraging the radicals, who, riding on the extradition bill controversy, are waging a fierce anti-government campaign.