Apologies to Lithuania

Having your own opinion, regardless of whether it's morally right or wrong is fine, as freedom of speech is a basic human right, contrary to what certain governments may think. But to disrespect other's religion, culture, and history is totally out of the question. This happened in Lithuania.

This image was posted on Facebook today by a Hong Kong university lecturer and political commentator. He was at the Hill of Crosses at Šiauliai. For those who don't know, the Hill of Crosses is a sacred place for the Lithuanians and represents peace, religion, and history. Over the years, many bring crosses and crucifixes here to honour the dead and to commemorate the many tragic historical events from the previous centuries.

I googled the top section of the cross, the first lines says God Bless, and the second line returned The birth of a rooster, which is rather odd, but that's not the issue here. The issue is with the Chinese writing which says

Hope all the cockroaches die. Hope peace can restore in Hong Kong soon.

Source : https://www.facebook.com/kaichil

I was mortified when I saw this. It is obvious that this was left by some anti Hong Kong protest morons who are totally ignorant of others' history, disrespect religion and basically have no basic etiquette when visiting a foreign country.

Cockroach was a term used by the Nazis to call the Jews in order to dehumanise them. The Hong Kong police, and those who are against the Hong Kong protest, often calls the protesters cockroaches. In their view, if the protesters all die, then Hong Kong can revert back to normality.

Secondly, Lithuania has a horrific past with the Nazi. Over 120,000 Lithuanian Jews were killed by them. Many come to the Hill of Crosses to pray for peace, and I am sure some of them are descendants of those 120,000 who were dehumanised, tortured and eventually killed by the Nazi. Leaving such a degrading comment here is a total disrespect to history. The fact that Lithuanian can't read Chinese is irrelevant as its the act that matters.

Thirdly, what could possess someone to deface somebody else's cross? If you want to leave a message, bring your own cross, or as I understand it, you can buy one at the entrance. No one in their right mind write on other people's property. That is basic etiqutte.

The infamous Hong Kong police force and actions of those who are against the Hong Kong protest have made global headlines around the world already. To extend their thoughtless actions to another country is a total embarrassment, not only to themselves (though they probably aren't aware of it) but also to the millions of Hong Kongers.