The rioters victimizing Hong Kong have killed a man.

On Nov 13, masked rioters threw hard objects, bricks perhaps, at a 70-year-old man on his head when he and some 20 others were trying to clear bricks left behind by the rioters.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said the man “sustained serious injury and is in critical condition” in their press release the next day. On Nov 15, the senior was reported dead in hospital.

In August, the rioters illegally imprisoned Fu Guohao, a journalist from the Chinese mainland; On Nov 11, they poured flammable liquid over a local resident and set him on fire.

Now they have finished their maddest step by taking a life.

As violence by the Hong Kong rioters escalates, a few Western media organizations, which have so far sided with them, have, expectedly, become cautious with the tone they use to describe the issues.

On Nov 13, the BBC used “Violent Protests” as its headline for the report on Hong Kong and carried a video report showing rioters fighting the police with “petrol bombs, bows and arrows” at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It even used the photograph of a rioter firing a flaming arrow from a huge bow.

On Nov 11, New York Times reported that “one man was doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire after he scolded protesters”, some report they did not do so often in the past.

“Should you kill anybody — an innocent passer-by or a policeman — your movement will end... Your international support will evaporate,” German journalist Tim Sebastian from DW.com, even warned Joey Siu, a “pro-democracy activist” from Hong Kong, at the end of an interview in Berlin. The video of the interview went viral on micro blog on Wednesday.

Even angrier than media organizations are the people living in Hong Kong, natives and foreigners alike.

On Nov 13, a video clip circulated widely showed a young man wearing a mask that covered 80 percent of his face, a typical being confronted by some residents. “People die because of you! Do you think you can lynch anybody?” They shouted. “The future does not lie with you!”

Unlike his fellow rioters who have been “brave” enough to attack people six to one, the young man, finding himself outnumbered, clearly looked scared and dared not argue back.

Some of the “protesters” too are beginning to change their mind. In an anonymous, video interview, a young woman, her face pixellated, said she would cut off all ties with the rioters because of the violent form their protest had assumed.

Ever since the riots escalated, the rioters have thought little about beating up those who have a different opinion, paralyzing public traffic and utilities or forcing people to strike, the reason the young woman is disgusted with them.

“The rioters have crossed the limits of what constitutes humanity. I really cannot agree with them anymore. This is inhuman,” she said, adding: “People, especially the young, should not get so easily incited, brainwashed, or exploited!”

All evidence suggests that the public, the media and even some insiders have understood the prime motive of the Hong Kong rioters — to engage in violence without any constructive outcome. Rioters are rioters, and all they do is arouse passions.

Of course, they arouse anger only.

And the words the rioters have been using — such as “democracy” and “l(fā)iberty” — are fast losing value. The rioters said “democracy” but the moment someone put forward a different opinion they thought nothing about pouring flammable liquid on him and setting him ablaze; They said “l(fā)iberty” and then went ahead to block roads and surround the airport to illegally curb the freedom of people coming from the Chinese mainland.

The moment the rioters resorted to such violence they should have expected people to be increasingly more disgusting from their movement. The days of rioting are numbered. But before the turmoil ends, the rioters might turn madder and the public must be prepared for this.

Contact the writers at zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn