Emotional toll on police handling Occupy protests, psychologists say

Police officers are frequently moved to tears by unprecedented emotional pressure in handling the Occupy Central movement, the force's psychologists say.

"We really feel our colleagues' pressure," clinical psychologist Alison Mak Lai-ping said. "I've been in the police for so many years but I've never seen a time when colleagues cry every day."

She said many front-line officers felt wronged when their Facebook friends "unfriended" them on social media over their role.

They also got into arguments with relatives - some of whom were involved in the protests - who blamed them for suppressing the pro-democracy activists.

"Social support is very important in relieving pressure," Mak said. "Now their social support has been weakened."

The officers had also experienced physical stress, working long hours and sometimes being verbally attacked by protesters, senior police clinical psychologist Ingrid Mak Wing-fun said.