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Stephen Lo, the Hong Kong police chief, is retiring in chaos (picture). Anthony WALLACE / AFP

A symbol in Hong Kong: as security forces besiege the Polytechnic University (PolyU), the chief of police is retiring. After a very long career, Stephen Lo leaves office, while the gap has never been so deep between the police and the youth of the city.

Thirty-five years of career and a departure on the sly. No ceremony, no official reception for Stephen Lo who eclipses after leading the Hong Kong police for four and a half years. He came to this position in 2015, a year after the "Umbrella Revolution".

Full chaos

He leaves his duties in full chaos : six months of demonstrations, 4,000 arrests, unprecedented deterioration .. but above all, a crisis of acute confidence between the population and the police. This Hong Kong police, considered for years as one of the most respectable in Asia, has lost all its credit. It has become a machine to scare.

Institution drifting

Of course, there are some radical protesters who target the police. But there are also all these Hong Kong people who want to go down the street and who do not dare. Too dangerous. We do not know what the police are capable of. She does not protect anymore. Would another have done better in these circumstances? Impossible to say, but today, Stephen Lo embodies the drift of an institution capable of firing live ammunition on young unarmed people.

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