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dpa
Hong Kong
Hong Kong city council member Tanya Chan called for an independent investigation into police brutality in the crackdown on the territory’s ongoing anti-government protests. Hong Kong “is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis” as police abuse escalates, Chan said at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
Listing police offences against protestors, Chan detailed sexual misconduct, excessive use of force, indiscriminate arrests, and the firing of over 2,000 canisters of tear gas in the last 100 days.
While the anti-government protest movement, which began in June, was initially directed at a legislative bill that would have allowed residents to be extradited to mainland China, that bill has since been withdrawn. But protests continue, with an independent investigation into police violence during the demonstrations at the forefront of protestors’ demands.
Police and activists continue to provide conflicting accounts of the escalating clashes. While protesters accuse police of excessive force, police have repeatedly stressed the seriousness of the tactics used by protestors. Monday morning, Hong Kong’s largest police group issued a statement justifying officers’ use of live ammunition in response to protestors employing Molotov cocktails. The statement came after a largely peaceful albeit illegal march on Hong Kong Island abruptly ended on Sunday when clashes broke out between protesters, Beijing supporters and police.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong city council member Tanya Chan called for an independent investigation into police brutality in the crackdown on the territory’s ongoing anti-government protests. Hong Kong “is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis” as police abuse escalates, Chan said at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
Listing police offences against protestors, Chan detailed sexual misconduct, excessive use of force, indiscriminate arrests, and the firing of over 2,000 canisters of tear gas in the last 100 days.
While the anti-government protest movement, which began in June, was initially directed at a legislative bill that would have allowed residents to be extradited to mainland China, that bill has since been withdrawn. But protests continue, with an independent investigation into police violence during the demonstrations at the forefront of protestors’ demands.
Police and activists continue to provide conflicting accounts of the escalating clashes. While protesters accuse police of excessive force, police have repeatedly stressed the seriousness of the tactics used by protestors. Monday morning, Hong Kong’s largest police group issued a statement justifying officers’ use of live ammunition in response to protestors employing Molotov cocktails. The statement came after a largely peaceful albeit illegal march on Hong Kong Island abruptly ended on Sunday when clashes broke out between protesters, Beijing supporters and police.
