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Raquel Carvalho

Kathy Gao

The police have come under fire again, this time for not having enough officers on hand during clashes at Occupy Central protest sites in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay yesterday.
Critics accused the force of failing to protect Occupy protesters and for having double standards in dealing with anti-Occupy activists during the fracas.

In Causeway Bay, a group of about 20 men wearing face masks - believed to be anti-Occupy activists - removed barricades on Hennessy Road and Jardine's Bazaar. Police tried to contain the situation, but violence flared involving the men, protesters and police. Some were hurt.
"We are very angry with the police. They did nothing," said protester Soda Lam after police led the group of men away.
Protesters on Hennessy Road said an anti-Occupy activist grabbed a woman's breasts as he forced his way into two lines of protesters standing in front of the barricades. The man was later taken away by police.
Wesley Ng, 21, said he and several other people followed officers who escorted one anti-Occupy protester to a police station at about 11pm after an alleged attack. "The man was released after 15 minutes. There was a commotion about why the man was let go so fast. Then another officer came. We told him that the police needed to open a case on the attack," he said.
Police then escorted the alleged attacker into the station and opened a file, Ng said.
In Mong Kok, over a dozen anti-Occupy activists started dismantling protesters' tents and barriers shortly after 2pm. Fewer than 100 protesters were there at the time. Police arrived soon after, but were outnumbered by the hundreds of anti-Occupy activists at the scene by then.
A cordon was then set up at the junction of Argyle Street and Nathan Road, but the activists repeatedly charged at the police. A protester with a head injury said anti-Occupy activists attacked him but officers did not help him.
Despite the chaos in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, officers did not display banners warning people to stop or be subjected to force. This was in stark contrast to the way they had dealt with Occupy protesters on Sunday, when riot police were deployed and pepper spray and tear gas used.
Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung said: "The police clearly have double standards. We are very angry, but we will keep the protests peaceful."
Icarus Wong Ho-yin, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front's Police Powers Monitoring Group, also accused the force of having double standards. "When we had confrontations with police … they took decisive action to maintain order," he said. "But they were very tolerant [towards anti-Occupy activists] and did not use force."
Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai said it was odd there had been a police "vacuum" in Mong Kok and said it gave rise to the clashes there.
But anti-Occupy activist Robert Chow Yung, from the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, said: "Be fair to the police. If they can't fire tear gas, they're not allowed to take any action against people blatantly breaking the law."
Patrick Ko Tat-bun, convenor of the pro-Beijing Voice of Loving Hong Kong, said the anti-Occupy activists did nothing wrong in charging the police cordon. "They were only enforcing the law on the police's behalf."
At a press conference late last night, Senior Superintendent Kong Man-keung rejected criticism that the force did little to prevent the clashes, saying it had swiftly deployed a lot of officers to control the crowds. He also denied allegations that the force was tolerating triad members' trashing of the protest sites.
By 10pm, two protesters had been arrested for fighting.
Lawmaker Leung Che-cheung, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, dismissed rumours that he had mobilised more than a hundred Yuen Long residents to trash the Mong Kok site. "Even if I could … I wouldn't, as it would only cause injuries and chaos," he said.
The Heads of Universities Committee urged students to leave the protest sites.
 


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Anti-Occupy activists and Occupy Central protesters clash at the Mong Kok protest site yesterday. Protesters say there were not enough police on hand. Photo: Sam Tsang

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News

Hong Kong

Police accused of double standards, with Occupy Central saying there were not enough officers as opponents attacked two protest sites yesterday


The police have come under fire again, this time for not having enough officers on hand during clashes at Occupy Central protest sites in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay yesterday.
