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Hong Kong Police Tactics Under Fire as Legislature Resumes

Hong Kong Police Tactics Under Fire as Legislature Resumes

(Bloomberg) -- Opposition lawmakers pressed Hong Kong’s security chief on whether police had used excessive force on protesters last Wednesday outside the city’s legislature, as tactics used by officers during a week of historic demonstrations are called into question.

Pan-democratic politicians accused the police of using too much force against peaceful protesters and shouted for the security chief, John Lee, to resign as the Legislative Council reconvened on Wednesday after demonstrations forced a hiatus. Lee defended the action of his personnel, saying they had acted in defense against protesters who charged a police line blocking the legislature as they attempted to storm the building.

“On June 12 in Admiralty and its vicinity, we could all see on TV that some protesters launched violent attacks, disrupting the peace of society and charging police cordon line,” Lee said in his reply to the lawmakers, according to a government transcript of the meeting. “It is the duty of the police to stop such behaviours to safeguard people’s life and property.”

Hong Kong Police Tactics Under Fire as Legislature Resumes

The Civil Human Rights Front, which helped organize the demonstrations, has made an investigation into what it calls excessive violence and abuse of power by the police one of the major demands of a historic protest Sunday that it said brought 2 million people onto the streets of Hong Kong.

The questioning of police tactics reached fever pitch on Wednesday, as video showing protesters trapped by tear gas shot from both sides near Citic Tower office building near the legislature went viral on Hong Kong social media.

The images show crowds of people trying to push into the building to flee the gas, only to find the doors locked. Other protesters try to break the glass and let them inside.

Tear Gas

Officers were backed up to the building’s entrance and under attack by protesters flinging bricks, metal poles and other objects at them before deciding to fire rounds of tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bags into the crowd, Lee told the assembly.

The protesters were mostly young and many wore surgical masks to hide their identities and plastic goggles to protect against pepper spray, fired by police sporadically throughout the day. Police commissioner Stephen Lo said last week that officers had acted in accordance with guidelines and shot 150 rounds of tear gas into crowds packing the streets of the city’s financial district.

Hong Kong Police Tactics Under Fire as Legislature Resumes

Lo and Chief Executive Carrie Lam have stood by the police’s behavior since last Wednesday, when thousands of demonstrators gathered in the heart of the city. Some battled with riot police throughout the afternoon to prevent lawmakers from debating a controversial bill that would allow extraditions to China.

Lam told reporters Tuesday that “throughout, whether it is on Wednesday evening or today standing here, my position is totally aligned with the Commissioner of Police.”

Hong Kong’s police on Monday evening dialed back their categorization of the clashes near the legislative building as a “riot,” which has certain legal ramifications. Dropping the description was another major demand of Sunday’s demonstration.

Only people who threw bricks and wielded metal poles against police officers might have committed riot offenses, Lo told reporters at the time. Lam on Tuesday said she agreed with the clarification.

--With assistance from Shawna Kwan and Josie Wong.

To contact the reporters on this story: Dominic Lau in Hong Kong at dlau92@bloomberg.net;Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Chris Kay

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.