While the delegates have flown home, the impact of the WTO meeting on Hong Kong is far exceeding the impact Hong Kong had on the WTO.

1. The government is to promote spending in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay to help shopkeepers make up for the losses they copped for being closed for a week.
2. Peter Gordon suggests the government establish a free trade think tank here in Hong Kong, helping advance our claim to being "Asia's World City".
3. 11 Korean protesters were denied bail but their detainment conditions were improved, while the potential for more serious charges to come later this week was also raised. As a sideline there's the potentially interesting case of a mainlander also arrested but claiming mistaken identity. The Korean government minister visiting Hong Kong has now apologised twice to the city, but also said the protesters will not face any action on their return to Korea. If the law operates properly these protesters will be prosecuted and if found guilty thrown into jail. Demonstrating Hong Kong's adherence to rule of law would tell protesters that they are not above the law. They abused Hong Kong's hospitalilty and whatever their grievances with the WTO, their rioting and destruction was not justified. Think I'm being biased? Try this from Doug Crets in The Standard:

After apologizing publicly for the violent clashes for a second time, Lee said the actions of the protesters were not directed at the Hong Kong government and consequently they did not deserve further punishment by the Korean government on their return.

"I [have] asked the authorities to give some special favor to look into this matter. The demonstration had nothing to do with the sovereignty of the Hong Kong government," Lee said.

A small public relations storm erupted over the weekend as some nongovernment organizations and sympathizers with the Koreans' cause alleged that police overreacted to the protest Saturday. But eyewitness accounts by reporters from The Standard support claims that police action was commensurate with the level of violence.

For more than four hours police warned the Koreans to assemble peacefully and that violent action would be met "with force." Tear gas was only used when the mob became unruly.

But these police didn't do that. They stuck to rigid positions. They followed protocols. They reacted to an action, they didn't, as far as I could tell, create an action. In fact, the very actuality that the Koreans were able to break through Central Plaza to get that far to the convention center tells me that the Koreans kept pushing till they broke the riot police's ideological stance. After that happened, it was all reaction, and then a clamping down.

As I have said before, these demonstrations were about power and control.

What I want to know is, can anyone tell me how I can arrange to spray paint the United States Consulate General and get away with it? Seriously, how does that happen?

The core team for Curbside will be dispersed after they complete their coursework. Each one of them will probably have their own weblogs and/or fotoblogs. However, there was a moment in time when they all got together to work on a group project that was much bigger than the sum of each one of them.