Opinion | Police conduct at anti-Occupy protest will be watched for hint of bias
Albert Cheng says officers' recent heavy-handed treatment of pro-democracy protesters has thrown in doubt the force's tradition of neutrality
The Alliance for Peace and Democracy expects a turnout of 98,000 for its march on Sunday against the Occupy Central movement. This will present the biggest test for the police's political neutrality since the handover in 1997.
There is a growing body of evidence that the police have become increasingly heavy-handed in dealing with the pro-democratic camp's protest actions. This low level of law enforcement tolerance used to be reserved for the Falun Gong.
However, in the past couple of years, pro-democracy activists have also been subject to undue police obstruction in their street actions.
For instance, an unprecedented 113 Occupy Central supporters were arrested in the wake of the last July 1 rally.
Backed by China's propaganda and united front machine, the alliance managed to collect some one million signatures against Occupy Central within a week at the more than 600 stations they set up across the territory.
Some pro-democracy activists had challenged the alliance and argued with their organisers at individual signing stations. The police responded by sending officers to protect the anti-Occupy teams. Officers, both uniformed and plain- clothed, were seen in the vicinity of the signature collection points, apparently to ensure that their activities were not disrupted.