Hong Kong smokers now face a new deterrent: relentless public staring, as health chief Lo Chung-mau urges citizens to glare at lawbreakers where police can’t intervene. With current smoking bans in restaurants, workplaces, and public spaces, this DIY enforcement pairs HK$1,500 fines with a collective side-eye, hoping to create a tobacco-free culture. “We can stare at the smokers,” quips Prof Lo, as Hong Kong debates even stricter bans and generational tobacco prohibitions.

Citizens now wield the power of the glare, stepping in where police can’t catch every puff. As Hong Kong considers banning tobacco sales by birth year, the campaign for a smoke-free city hinges on peer pressure and etiquette patrols. “No one will say it requires the law to compel people to queue,” notes Prof Lo, likening anti-smoking stares to the city’s famed bus-line discipline. Imagine: a thousand eyes, silently enforcing the law with synchronized disapproval.

Breaking Hong Kong’s smoking ban can cost up to HK$1,500, but the latest crackdown enlists every bystander as a silent, staring sentinel in the city’s anti-tobacco offensive.