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Hong Kong Police: Officers 'Very Restrained' After Riot With Protesters
Posted
June 13, 2019
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35:04Now PlayingHong Kong police resorted to harsher-than-usual tactics to suppress protesters this week in the city’s biggest bout of political violence in decades.
Police fired rubber bullets and beanbag rounds at the crowds, weapons they haven’t widely used in recent history.
Human rights groups criticized the tough tactics, while police said they were necessary against crowds of people who broke through barriers outside government headquarters and the legislature on Wednesday.
The violence left 81 people injured, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said. Police said 22 officers were among the injured.
Officers at one point “had no choice but to escalate the use of force to disperse the crowd,” Stephen Lo, the Hong Kong commissioner of police, told reporters Thursday. “The behavior of the violent protesters yesterday imposed a serious threat to the public order.”
Police used more than 150 rounds of tear gas during Wednesday’s clashes, Lo said. That’s nearly double the amount used in major 2014 protests.
It was the first time that Hong Kong police have used tear gas since that year’s huge 79-day pro-democracy “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations, which marked the beginning of a shift to a tougher police approach.
Officers also fired rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, which Lo said other countries deployed as nonlethal methods to quell riots and rebellions, and also used batons, pepper spray, and pepper based solution. Many protesters wore hard hats, masks, plastic wrap and carried umbrellas as protection. Eleven were arrested.
“We are unarmed,” said Daniel Lee, a 42-year-old doctor who noted that the police wore respirators to protect against tear gas. He said it was the last chance to fight for Hong Kong’s future.
“It’s expected that we will be hit. There’s no way. If no one stands by the kids’ side, they will not have any help. This is it.”
Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said that before 2014, Hong Kong police handled large demonstrations by using softer, non-confrontational tactics. They didn’t wear tactical helmets and instead gave out bottled water and medical kits.
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