The opposition camp came under strong public condemnation on Thursday after all but one of its lawmakers failed to show up at the Legislative Council meeting in the morning. The nearly complete absence of “pan-democrat” legislators caused the adjournment of the LegCo session because of “the lack of a quorum” — a much-loathed delaying tactic.

Although they have done this many times every year for more than a decade now, the motive this time is more sinister than ever because of the timing as well as the objective. By delaying the deliberation of the government’s temporary funding requests as long as they can, the opposition aims to seriously hinder if not fully paralyze the operation of the SAR government when the city of 7.5 million is fighting tooth and nail to contain the spread of a global pandemic and cope with an economic downturn.

The opposition politicians are obviously taking advantage of the current public health crisis to keep the illegal campaign known as the “black revolution” going, with as much damage as they can cause to the overall interest of Hong Kong society. Of course, they would never openly acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic is a blessing more than anything else to them now, but their latest filibustering stunt is a fact they cannot deny.

They claimed they would let the temporary funding request pass as soon as funding for the Chief Executive’s Office and Hong Kong Police Force is crossed out. Any sane person would have no difficulty spotting the absurdity of such arguments, as well as the malicious objective behind them. The chief executive, as head of both the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and its administration, is the top decision-maker in the SAR; whereas the police force is the sole law enforcement agency in the city. By depriving them of the badly needed funding, aren’t the opposition lawmakers trying to cripple the SAR government at a crucial time when the city is struggling to cope with daunting challenges and thereby plunge society into utter chaos?

It goes without saying that members of the opposition camp hold a grudge against the police who have foiled their “black revolution” aimed at snatching the governing power of the SAR. But their latest attempt to cripple the police not only works against the overall interests of Hong Kong society, but also exposes their readiness and willingness to sacrifice the public interest for political gains.