Is astronomy in Hong Kong being suppressed?

[Nerf_Caching]

Okay, so I just had to talk about this real quick. A bit of context here first of all. So protests have been happening in Hong Kong for the past 3 months which have lead people to question the credibility of the Police. Apparently, a student has now been arrested for purchasing a laser typically used for pointing out constellations in the night sky, without any concrete evidence of intent to cause harm with it. Now, Hong Kong's astronomical societies have spoken out against it, and have even considered a public star party with lasers to promote astronomy to yhe public. As a stargazer, this is really concerning as I drag my rig outside onto public spaces whenever I observe, as the Police seen to be biased towards younger people.

[John]

The use of laser pointers in the UK is controlled. This is the police policy on it:

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q757.htm

In Hong Kong there have been recent reports of laser pointers being used to disable face recognition technology employed by the police and also being shone in police officers eyes so that is why there is additional sensitivity regarding their recent purchase I would suggest.

I don't think this is anything to do with the suppression of astronomy.

 

[Nerf_Caching]

1 hour ago, John said:

The use of laser pointers in the UK is controlled. This is the police policy on it:

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q757.htm

In Hong Kong there have been recent reports of laser pointers being used to disable face recognition technology employed by the police and also being shone in police officers eyes so that is why there is additional sensitivity regarding their recent purchase I would suggest.

I don't think this is anything to do with the suppression of astronomy.

 

Ah, fair enough🤔. Although I do think that it's a bit dodgy using lasers especially in HK where aircraft fly low all the time, so perhaps there are similar regulations here I think.