Hong Kong: Their motto has been “Asia’s Finest” since colonial times, but videos of Hong Kong police beating unarmed protesters have fuelled public anger and sparked accusations of brutality.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators occupying city streets scattered when police used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds on Wednesday. Police insisted the force was necessary to fend off protesters throwing bricks and metal bars.
But critics said officers used localised violence by small groups of hardcore activists to launch an unprecedented operation against the much larger mass of peaceful protesters who had taken over parts of the city on Wednesday.
Criticism of police tactics poured in Thursday as videos of the clashes went viral.
The Hong Kong Bar Association slammed the “deployment of wholly unnecessary force against largely unarmed protesters who did not appear to pose any immediate threat to the police or the public at large.”
The group said the police “may well have over-stepped its lawful powers in maintaining public order.”
The clashes were broadcast live throughout the day on news networks while activists have been sharing multiple clips of officers using extreme force. In one Apple Daily clip filmed at Wednesday’s protests, a young woman who falls to the floor while running away is hit by at least four riot police with batons, while one brings his plastic riot shield crashing down on her.
In another, a man sitting on a wall is approached by riot police, with whom he is seen exchanging a few words before they spray pepper repeatedly into his face at close range.
A third online clip shows several policemen slam a protester holding a box of water bottles to the ground, where several kneel on him to hold him down until he releases his phone.
“The police have taken advantage of the violent acts of a small minority as a pretext to use excessive force against the vast majority of peaceful protesters,” said Man-Kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong.
“Protesters were just sitting there and demonstrating peacefully, but they used tear gas in their faces… You can only use the word hideous to describe this,” lawmaker Claudia Mo told reporters.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it has received more than 15 complaints from reporters — including some who say they were targeted with pepper spray — and called for more witness accounts from reporters of any abuses by police.
Police chief Stephen Lo defended his officers Wednesday, saying they had shown restraint until “mobsters” tried to storm parliament.
Several police officers were among the injured, with local TV showing one unconscious officer being carried away after appearing to have been hit by a projectile.
Two people are in a serious condition and 77 more were injured. Compared with police in other parts of the region, Hong Kong’s police have generally had a good reputation due to territory’s rule of law and open justice system. (PTI)
Hong Kong protesters plan another mass rally after violent clashes
Hong Kong: Hong Kong protest leaders announced plans for another mass rally on Sunday, escalating their campaign against a China extradition bill a day after police cleared them from the streets using volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets.
The move sets up a fresh confrontation with the city’s government which has refused to withdraw the proposed law and has the staunch backing of Beijing, which described the protests as “riots”.
The international finance hub was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters who had swarmed the city’s parliament were dispersed in chaotic scenes.
Sporadic demonstrations broke out again on Thursday, with occasional scuffles with police, but crowds were much smaller and there was no repeat of the running battles of the day before.
The government attempted to lower the temperature by indefinitely postponing a parliamentary debate on the bill which had been scheduled for Wednesday and triggered the scenes at parliament.
But demonstrators have vowed no let up in their campaign, calling for a rally on Sunday and a city-wide strike on Monday.
“(We) will fight until the end with Hong Kong people,” said Jimmy Sham from the Civil Human Rights Front, the main protest group, adding that they had applied for permission to hold the weekend rally.
“When facing ignorance, contempt and suppression, we will only be stronger, there will only be more Hong Kong people,” he told reporters.
The CHRF organised a huge rally against the bill on Sunday which they said drew more than a million people. It has little control over groups of largely leaderless, young crowds of more hardline demonstrators at the vanguard of confrontations with police.
The police response has drawn criticism from a range of influential bodies including lawmakers, journalists and legal groups, with calls for an independent inquiry into “excessive force” from a top legal body that helps elect the city’s leader.
The Hong Kong Bar Association also said the police “may well have overstepped its lawful powers” with “wholly unnecessary force against largely unarmed protesters who did not appear to pose any immediate threat to the police or the public”. But Beijing said it fully supported the city authorities’ handling of the protests.
“What happened in the Admiralty area was not a peaceful rally, but a riot organised by a group,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, referencing the district where the worst violence took place.
“We support the Hong Kong government’s dealing of the situation in accordance with the law.”
The extradition bill has united an unusually wide cross section of Hong Kong against the proposal — from lawyers and influential business groups to students and activists and religious leaders.
The plans were put forward by the city’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam, who has seen her approval ratings take a nosedive.
The government says it is necessary to fix a loophole that prevents Hong Kong from sending criminal suspects back to jurisdictions they have fled — including to mainland China.
Lam has shown no signs of backing down, even after the massive peaceful rally on Sunday. Instead she has vowed to press ahead with the law change and called the protests “organised riots”.
But opponents say the legislation would be abused by an increasingly assertive Beijing to pursue its political enemies and to ensnare dissidents in an opaque and politically motivated justice system. (PTI)