EAST TSIM SHA TSUI, Hong Kong – In Hong Kong, as elsewhere in China, a few people rule mainly for the benefit of a minority at the expense of everyone else. Without access to the levers of political power, the people at street level must engage in forceful protests to make their voices heard. Otherwise, their wishes and opinions count for nothing.

True, powerful people dislike being challenged. But that's all the more reason to protest at every chance in ways that surprise, annoy and even alarm them.

In Hong Kong, condemnations have rained down from high places against “political hooliganism” after a 25-year-old street protester from the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats allegedly pushed chief executive Donald Tsang who had arrived to make a speech at the Museum of History. Police detained the protester and charged him with assault.

Later at the museum, more protesters stormed towards Tsang as others yelled from the audience about the need to “return wealth to the people”. They wanted action to reduce Hong Kong's high levels of poverty.

Most people receiving a shove would shrug it off as a minor incident. But Tsang, being a small man, physically as in political stature and in public respect, appeared badly affected. Complaining of chest pains, he later went to a hospital for examination. A doctor found no serious injury.

By Tsang's account, the protester “came forward and hit me in the chest. I went into a room and rested for 10 minutes. I felt all right then and went onto the stage to make my speech. When on the stage, they kept causing a disturbance. Later when I was having dinner, I felt a dull pain, so my wife asked me to have a checkup.”

He added: “Hong Kong is a civilized society. Brutal acts are unacceptable. Hong Kong is also a free society. Anyone who wants to express their views -- even by staging protests -- can do so in a lawful manner.”

In reality, it's debatable how civilized or free Hong Kong is. Admittedly, physical altercations are inadvisable and wrong. Protest actions must stop just short of such incidents. But in places like Beijing and Hong Kong, where the elite dominate everyone else with no reversal in sight, people must engage in strong, demanding and unpredictable protests.

Thankfully, the League of Social Democrats reacts to the latest bluster of criticism from government officials by promising more “revolutionary” actions against Tsang. Angry protests need to continue inside Hong Kong's Legislative Council, on the streets and wherever government officials appear.

Notably, at nearly every public protest in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China, it's the police who do most of any pushing, hitting, blocking and manhandling, acting against the people merely trying to express deep grievances. This represents a double-standard that favors the elite, as the political rules do.

Beijing's representatives in Hong Kong denounced the “attack” on Tsang too, saying the chief executive should be respected and protected. After all, he’s Beijing’s man-in-charge. Actually, Tsang's willingness always to bow to Beijing, even at the expense of the Hong Kong people with whom he long ago lost touch, gives the strongest reason why he deserves contempt and often receives it.

More than most places, China needs waves of street protests to sweep away unfair political structures. Despite Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region, its people also ache for fairness and political freedoms.

Public protests need to continue, widen and intensify. Ideally, they should force government officials to squirm, or better yet, sweep them from power.

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