WSJ Nov. 5, 2014
HONG KONG—Hong Kong police have arrested three men following clashes early Thursday in Mong Kok, a pro-democracy protest zone in the Kowloon part of the city.
Local television stations showed police using pepper spray on dozens of protesters in the working-class neighborhood. The confrontation was allegedly caused by a man using a camera flash to provoke a police officer, the news channels said.
About a thousand protesters, some wearing protective goggles and helmets, helped to build fresh barricades from wooden fencing and other materials in the gritty, densely populated Mong Kok district. Some chanted “black police” after the police struck demonstrators’ umbrellas with their small metal batons.
We are all outraged by the extrajudicial punishment dished out on protesters by the police. Today the police finally decided to suspend from duty the seven police officers who allegedly carried out the attacks, and will conduct a criminal investigation. OCLP is paying close attention to the progress of the investigation and urges the authorities to make the results of the investigation public as soon as possible, as well as the investigations into excessive force used by the police in dispersing the protesters in Lung Wo Road.
Since the police used excessive force in the clearance operation in the early morning of the 15th of this month, some ‘sporadic acts of occupation’ and obstruction of traffic sprang up in Lung Wo Road yesterday, which shows the increasing tension between demonstrators and frontline police officers. Although OCLP finds the abuse of power by individual police officers to be hateful, we urge every occupier not to forget our original intention, that is to fight for a democratic political system with love and peace. Our target should be the dictator who ignores public opinion. We should not misfire and give the government an excuse for repression.
We urge the occupiers to continue to safeguard the ‘Umbrella Square’. If someone chooses to further block the road or extend the occupation area, that will surely intensify the conflict among citizens, which is what Leung Chun-ying would love to see. It also gives the government a reason for clearance due to rising ‘public resentment’. More importantly, for civil disobedience to be successful, understanding and support from the public have to be sought.
We strongly condemn the police officers for abusing their power. However, we also call for protesters to show understanding and sympathy if the police are carrying out their duties lawfully. They have simply been pushed into the position of our opponents by an unjust system and the hardliners in the government. We hope all protesters not to forget what it was we set out to do – to resist a dictatorial government with love and peace.
Hong Kong police used pepper spray early on Thursday to stop pro-democracy protesters from blocking a major road near the office of the city’s embattled leader amid public anger over the police beating of a protester a day earlier.
At the police HQ in the nearby district of Wan Chai, hundreds of people gathered outside into the early hours of the morning to express outrage at the beating, with dozens queuing to lodge formal complaints over the incident.
A shocking video shows six Hong Kong police officers apparently leading a handcuffed pro-democracy protester to a dark corner and kicking him repeatedly while he is on the ground.
The violent footage was captured on Wednesday after cameras from local Hong Kong station TVB followed the police during the mass protests against China’s interference in Hong Kong’s first elections, which are promised in 2017.
Police have launched an investigation into the alleged beating in the early hours of this morning of Civic Party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu as pan-democrat lawmakers labelled the attack an illegal punishment.
Earlier this morning, broadcaster TVB aired video footage showing a group of plain-clothes policemen dragging a handcuffed protester away from the main crowds in Admiralty before kicking and hitting the man, later identified as Tsang.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police battling activists for control of an underpass in the dead of night Wednesday sparked public anger after officers were seen kicking a handcuffed protester in the worst violence since street demonstrations for greater democracy began more than two weeks ago.
Officers armed with riot shields and pepper spray knocked activists to the ground, dragging dozens away, and tore down barricades protesters used as roadblocks around the underpass outside the government’s headquarters. Continue reading
This morning, in an attempt to forcibly disperse the crowd outside the Chief Executive’s Office at Lung Wo Road and the adjacent underpass, police exercised excessive force. The most unacceptable incident was recorded by members of the media, in which several police officers took an already restrained protester to a dark corner and kicked and punched him. OCLP strongly condemns such behavior, which smacks of extrajudicial punishment and demands authorities investigate it. The public must not be left with the impression that selective law enforcement and collusion among public officers is condoned.
OCLP also calls on protesters to hold onto the spirit of peaceful struggle, to guard well the already occupied zones, and to avoid giving authorities’ any excuse for clearance.
According to witness accounts, Lung Wo Road and the adjacent underpass was taken over by the protesters yesterday evening, (Oct 14th). By 3 am, the police declared protesters were conducting an ‘unlawful assembly’, and told them to peacefully and orderly disperse, otherwise force would be deployed. As the police advanced, protesters stood their ground. Some police officers apparently treated such behaviour as ‘assault’, forcibly subdued protesters, and sprayed pepper spray into their faces. Protesters who had indicated compliance were nevertheless dragged away roughly. One protester, whose hands were tied behind his back, was carried to a dark corner at Tamar Park by six uniformed and plain-clothed officers. He was kicked and punched, his face and eyes bruised and swollen.
The protester, Ken Tsang Kin Chiu, was at that point under constraint and was in no position to fight back, much less prevent any clearance action on the part of the police, or pose any threat. Before a court acts, any person is presumed innocent. It is absolutely wrong for law enforcement officers to mete out extrajudicial punishment against any citizen. The police officers involved are alleged to have done exactly that and should be strongly condemned.
OCLP is concerned the police are taking the line that protesters’ refusal to leave already constitutes unlawful assembly, and that this justifies dispersal action. Such reasoning, if unchallenged, may well be applied for the dispersal of peaceful protesters at Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. This is a violation of Chief Executive Leung Chung Ying’s earlier pledge that as long as protesters refrain from charging police formations, the police are committed to maximum tolerance, to allow protesters to gather freely. OCLP regrets the police action.
OCLP Secretariat
15 October 2014
Hundreds of police officers wearing riot gear used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, and arrested dozens of people.
(Issued on 3.10.2014)
In response to the police “strong condemnation” of protesters for not allowing “food trucks to enter the CGO as “inhumane”, OCLP notes the condemnation follows the police refusal to allow protesters to assist in delivering food. This is highly unhelpful to establishing mutual trust.
Protesters have pointed to repeated deception by police, giving them the feeling the police are “crying wolf”. OCLP believes the people are discerning, and hope police management do not make things difficult for frontline police officers.
– See more at: http://oclp.hk/index.php?route=occupy/eng_detail&eng_id=37#sthash.JfrdQToq.dpuf
HK police to chef: What do you mean you’ve run out of pepper? (police pepper-sprayed demonstrators yesterday) pic.twitter.com/CmP0d79pVS
— Occupy Central 和平佔中 (@OCLPHK) September 2, 2014
Speech at 2 August 2014 demonstration outside of Wanchai Police Headquarters, Hong Kong
Original published on OCLP Facebook Page on 5 August 2014: Read original
Original published in Apple Daily on 14 July 2014: Read Original
Translation on 15 July 2014
Dear frontline police officers in Hong Kong,
511 citizens were removed and arrested after more than a thousand people participated in the sit-in at the Charter Road pedestrian precinct during the early morning of 2nd July. Here I commend the frontline police officers on carrying out their duties in a professional and restrained manner, which proves that the frontline police force in Hong Kong meets international standards. Continue reading
9 July 2014 | Albert Einstein Institution
Civic groups and citizens of Hong Kong struggling for universal suffrage have begun to heighten their campaign.
On July 3, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers staged a mass walkout from a parliament session against the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, accusing him of “willful ignorance of the people’s call for real democracy”. Many lawmakers held banners and demanded Leung’s resignation.
Occupy Central with Love and Peace 