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Home / World

Hong Kong police teargas rally after protesters attack plainclothes agents

By Timothy McLaughlin
Washington Post·
19 Jan, 2020 05:58 PM4 mins to read

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Police detain a protester in Hong Kong. Photo / AP

Police detain a protester in Hong Kong. Photo / AP

A mass protest in Hong Kong came to an abrupt and chaotic end on when demonstrators attacked plainclothes police officers, sparking a response from authorities that included pepper spray, teargas and numerous arrests.

Relations between the public and the Hong Kong Police Force have collapsed during the months of protests that began in response to the Government's attempt to pass a bill that would allow for extraditions to mainland China.

The bill was withdrawn, but the alleged misuse of force by the police, and the government's refusal to launch an independent inquiry into the force's conduct, have become a central grievance.

The scenes yesterday marked a return to the sporadic violence that has occasionally erupted around the largely peaceful anti-government movement, now in its eight month.

It also underscores the risk of using plainclothes police officers to respond to the protests, a highly controversial tactic that has sowed mistrust and prompted scuffles multiple times since the demonstrations began in June.

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Tens of thousands of people gathered in Chater Garden in the city's Central district to take part in a rally opposing the Communist Party and calling for universal suffrage in the territory. Organisers had applied for a permit for a march, which was denied, but police did approve a rally as long as it stayed in one place. The crowd easily filled the park and protesters spilled into the nearby streets.

The turnout appeared to be the largest since an authorised protest on New Year's Day, when organisers said over a million people gathered to demonstrate but had their march cancelled by police midway through.

Police said some protesters began vandalising buildings and tossing water bottles at officers, prompting them to cancel the event. Police had sent community liaison officers to deliver the message to the rally's organisers, they said.

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The plainclothes officers told the organisers that the rally was being called off, according to Ventus Lau, a member of the Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team, which organised the rally. Lau asked to see an officer's identification card, he said, but the officer initially resisted. Once he saw the officer's badge, Lau said, he attempted to clear the park, but the altercation had drawn a crowd of angry protesters and fighting broke out.

A small group of riot police entered the park in what looked to be an effort to assist their injured colleagues and clear the area.

A group of protesters chased the injured and bleeding plainclothes officers across the street, where they attempted to find safety in a building but were unable to enter because the doors were locked. Cornered, three of them were beaten by protesters with umbrellas and batons. One protester attempted to hit them with a brick. More police rushed in to disperse the crowd.

Moments later, police fired multiple rounds of teargas, sending protesters, and dozens of migrant domestic workers who gather in the area on their day off, fleeing. The three people beaten - two men and a woman - left in ambulances with their heads bandaged.

Backed by an armoured vehicle and water cannons, police raced down the nearby streets to clear protesters.

The police said in a statement that two officers from the Police Community Liaison Office were speaking with rally organisers when they "were suddenly surrounded and beaten up brutally by a large group of rioters with wooden sticks and other weapons."

"They were left with bloody head injuries. Such appalling acts are not to be condoned. The Police will endeavour to bring the assailants to justice," the statement added. Lau was arrested, local media reported.

The Hong Kong Government also condemned the attacks, calling them "outrageous," and accused "rioters" of exploiting peaceful public assemblies "as a cover for vandalism and attacks."

Police Commissioner Chris Tang was grilled last week by district councillors about the force's use of plainclothes officers, who often have no visible identification and further obscure themselves by wearing masks. One district councillor held up photos of plainclothes officers and asked Tang whether he himself could identify them, to which Tang responded that he could not.

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