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A policewoman tries to stop an anti-Occupy protester from breaking a police cordon to charge at pro-democracy protesters during a confrontation in Hong Kong on October 13, 2014. Photo: Reuters

Spat at, insulted, but still doing their duty: policewomen tell their stories

Service on front lines tougher than it looks, policewomen say; verbal and physical assaults, 20-hour shifts and public enmity all take a toll

Two policewomen say they have withstood verbal and physical insults during the last three weeks while working up to 20-hour shifts policing the Occupy protests. Male officers have suffered the same abuse, they say.

"Sometimes we feel really angry, but we have to suppress our emotions because this is our job and we have the duty to see it through," said one sergeant named Joanne.

Joanne belongs to a 27-member all-woman special team charged with clearing barricades set up by Occupy protesters. They also handle female demonstrators.

She said she had never seen protesters - especially those in Mong Kok - "so fierce" in her 24 years on the force.

"What you see on TV is totally different from what you truly experience at the scene," she said. "Protesters in Mong Kok are more complicated and harder to handle than [you] imagine. No matter man or woman, they all throw obscene language about your families at you. Sometimes they spit on you."

Joanne's husband is also a frontline police officer at Occupy. She said that one day when her husband, who was in uniform, was walking towards an MTR station with several uniformed colleagues, someone suddenly slapped the back of his head. The officers arrested the man for attacking police. Joanne said she did not understand why people had to attack officers when they were only doing their jobs.

Joanne said that one week she worked seven days straight, 12 to 20 hours a day. She and her husband barely saw each other, as they worked different shifts.

Teresa, a chief inspector and frontline commander at the protests, said television viewers couldn't always see from the footage whether protesters had moved forward towards police when there were clashes.

She said many colleagues who were injured would not see a doctor because they did not want to take sick leave.

"They are willing to work non-stop because they don't want their brothers and sisters [colleagues] to have to take on additional work," she said.

Both officers were speaking in interviews arranged by the police force.

Police salary scales were recently posted online, prompting criticism that officers were complaining while earning handsome sums. The salaries shown ranged from HK$19,545 to HK$230,550 a month.

"Salary is one of the reasons, but we are not working so hard only for the salaries," said Teresa. "When you are sworn at so much every day, when your family [is] so worried about you, if there was no other reason [for it], you wouldn't keep doing the job."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Spat at, insulted, but still doing their duty
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