親中派の「荒らし」が女性抗議デモ参加者を標的に？　香港

【香港ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港で政府への抗議デモに参加する女性たちは、インターネット上で親中国派とみられる「荒らし」に、レイプするぞと脅迫されたり、体形をあげつらわれたり、加工された写真を拡散されたりするなどの嫌がらせを受けていると訴えている。（写真は香港の「#MeToo」デモで、警察が女性の民主派デモ参加者らに性的暴行を加えたとされる事件に抗議する看板を掲げる参加者）
　香港では数か月前から大勢の市民が抗議デモを繰り広げており、中国による香港支配はここ数十年で最大の挑戦を突き付けられている。
　ところが、女性デモ参加者によると、ネット上で民主派支持の投稿をすると、おびただしい数の性差別主義的な反応や攻撃を受け取るという。
　１７歳の女子学生は「彼らは私の考えなどを攻撃しているわけじゃなくて、私が女性だから攻撃しているだけ」と語った。
　この学生によると、香港警察を支持するフェイスブックページで、自分がデモ行進に参加したときの画像が加工されて拡散されているのを見つけたという。元の画像でこの学生は、「私は高校生だ」と書かれた旗の横に立っていたが、拡散された画像では「私は下着を何もつけていない」と書き換えられていた。
　別の女性抗議デモ参加者は、自分がデモ中に警察に拘束された様子を写した画像が、あたかも乳首が見えているように加工され、ネット上で拡散されていると話した。
　香港の人気歌手で民主派活動家でもあるデニス・ホー（何韻詩）さんはフェイスブックの投稿のなかで、彼女に対するネット上の攻撃の目的は、彼女の「意思を無視し、ビジョンを無視し、外見と服装に焦点を当てて、そのうえで悪だと決めつける」ことだとつづった。
　■嫌がらせのほとんどは簡体字、一方で現役警官の妻たちも被害に
　嫌がらせを受けた女性らは、こういった性差別主義的な嫌がらせのほとんどは中国本土で主に使われる簡体字で書かれていることから、親中派ネットユーザーによる行為だと疑っていると語り、デモに対する中国政府の発言が強硬になった頃から、こういった嫌がらせが激しくなったと口をそろえた。
　とはいえ、香港の抗議行動をめぐっては当局とデモ隊の双方にとってソーシャルメディアが重要な戦場となっており、性差別主義的な攻撃の対象になっているのは民主派だけではない。
　これまでにも、露出の多い服を着たモデルの写真に林鄭月娥（キャリー・ラム）行政長官の顔が合成されたポスターが市内に張り出されたことがあった。
　また警察幹部筋の情報によると、チャットアプリ、テレグラムのユーザーらが現役警察官らの妻を複数特定し、そのうちの誰と「寝たい」かというアンケートをアプリ上に設置していたという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/04-08:39）

Rape threats, body-shaming and doctored photos: women supporting the anti-government protests in Hong Kong say they are being harassed online by suspected pro-Beijing trolls.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the financial hub's streets week after week in the biggest challenge to China's rule of the semi-autonomous city for decades.
But female protesters posting support for the pro-democracy movement said they have experienced a slew of sexist online attacks in response.
They are not attacking my views or anything, they just attack me because I am female, said Hong Kong student Mickey Leung Ho Wun.
The 17-year-old discovered a doctored picture of her at a pro-democracy rally was being spread on Facebook via a page supporting the city's police.
In the original, Wun is standing next to a banner reading 'I am a secondary school student' but in the altered version, the sign reads 'I am not wearing any underwear.'
These are Hong Kong people who are pro-Beijing, Wun speculated of the users sharing the picture.
Another young female protester, Ka Yau Ho, said a photograph shared online of her being detained by the police during a rally was altered so it appeared her nipples were showing.
Celebrity Hong Kong singer turned activist Denise Ho said on Facebook the aim of the online attacks against her was to ignore her will, ignore her vision, focus on her exterior and dress, and then demonise.
These women said they suspected pro-Beijing trolls were behind the sexist abuse, as the majority of messages were in simplified Chinese -- predominantly used in mainland China.
They added that the abuse has intensified since Beijing ramped up its hardline rhetoric over the protests.
On Wednesday evening, thousands rallied against alleged police sexual violence, holding aloft purple lights in solidarity with abuse victims.
Attendees shared the #ProtestToo hashtag, a play on 2017's global #MeToo movement that exposed sexual assault and harassment in high-profile industries -- and helped improve attitudes towards abuse survivors.
But women at the protest told AFP they had stopped posting online as the rhetoric against the protesters increased.
A spokesperson for Hong Kong's Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women said online harassment was a weapon to harm women, adding that it was linked to outdated social norms and cultural values.
- 'Constant barrage' -
Social media has been a key battleground for both sides during the protests.
Earlier this month tech giants Twitter and Facebook said they had suspended nearly 1,000 active accounts emanating from China, aimed at undercutting the legitimacy of the Hong Kong protest movement.
Twitter said it had shut down a further 200,000 accounts before they could inflict any damage.
Laurel Chor, 29, said as a female reporter covering the protests in Hong Kong she had received a constant barrage of abuse in her comments and Instagram DMs.
They were using words like whore or prostitute and bitch, she said.
A Twitter post which called on people to shun a list of female Asian journalists -- including Chor -- was indicative of how women do get disproportionately targeted and it is not only gendered but also racial, she said.
Similarly, journalist Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, born in mainland China but writing about the protests from Australia, said her Twitter account was swamped by negative comments, including rape threats.
The insults that were towards me they were a really weird combination of nasty nationalism, sexism, and racism, she said. I felt physically sick.
It is not only pro-democracy demonstrators who have endured abusive gendered attacks.
Photographs of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, have been superimposed onto scantily-clad models' bodies and pasted on walls in the city.
Meanwhile, the wives of a number of serving police officers were identified by Telegram users who created a poll on the encrypted messaging service to vote on which wife they would rather sleep with, a senior police source said.
A Twitter spokesperson told AFP that abuse, harassment and hateful conduct have no place on our service.
Neither Instagram nor Facebook immediately responded to comment but Instagram confirmed they were actively investigating the issue.