Morale of junior police officers could not be lower: union leader

The morale of junior police officers has sunk to an all-time low as they are ordered to tolerate Occupy protesters who hold illegal rallies and cause gridlock, a police union leader has claimed.

"We start to be unable to distinguish right and wrong," Junior Police Officers' Association chairman Joe Chan Cho-kwong said in a telephone message to management that the union said did not represent its stance.

Chan also questioned whether police committed an offence by helping to defend barricades set up by demonstrators from the civil disobedience movement during clashes with opponents on Monday.

"There were residents exercising their civic responsibility to remove illegal barricades in Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay to restore traffic flow and order," he said.

"Police did not follow the law and assist the removal of road obstacles, but guarded the illegal obstructions and assisted those gathered illegally to carry out their illegal behaviour."

He asked whether police broke the law with Occupy protesters or helped them in committing an offence.