In an unprecedented move, the German Consulate General of Hong Kong formally commented on the recent remarks of a Hong Kong police officer comparing the Hong Kong Police to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Over 30,000 current and former Hong Kong police officers and their relatives attended a rally organized by 2 police associations on February 23, 2017, in support of 7 police officers recently found guilty and jailed for assaulting a protester during the Umbrella Revolution in 2014. During the rally, a police officer made a public remark drawing a parallel between Hong Kong public's attitude towards its police force and the persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies during the Holocaust. 

Such a remark had already caused an public uproar in Hong Kong. The Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong released a public statement yesterday (February 23, 2017) condemning the comparison of Hong Kong police to Holocaust victims as "inappropriate and regretful". Dr. the Honourable CHENG Chung-Tai, an elected member of the Legislative Council for the New Territories West constituency and the Chairman of Civic Passion, also wrote to the German Consulate General of Hong Kong yesterday requesting their comments. 

In response, the German Consulate General issued a public statement today (February 24, 2017) strongly denouncing the comparison of Hong Kong Police to Jewish Holocaust victims as a "regrettably insufficient knowledge of historical facts". In the statement, the German Consulate General clearly stated that the Jewish population in Germany were persecuted in the hands of the Nazi German government, during which "millions lost their lives". To compare Jews who were victims of state power to Hong Kong police officers convicted for their abuse of power was "utterly inappropriate".

The following is the full version of the comments issued by the German Consulate General of Hong Kong:

Concerning the widely reported remarks of a Hong Kong police officer comparing the Hong Kong police to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, we would like to comment as follows:

The reported reference to the Holocaust shows a regrettably insufficient knowledge of historical facts. The Jewish population in Germany was persecuted by the State and all its organs during the Nazi dictatorship and millions lost their lives. Therefore the comparison between the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and police officers convicted for an abuse of power is utterly inappropriate.