Tear gas, pepper spray in full swing at Hong Kong police riot drill to prepare for possible polls violence
An intensive two-day exercise was conducted Monday, while online monitoring of localists’ Facebook and forum pages is also being done
Tear gas canisters were fired and pepper spray was used to disperse mock protesters during a security drill by police yesterday to prepare for possible chaos during this Sunday’s Legislative Council elections.
Anti-riot weapons were in full use at the Police Tactical Unit training ground in Fanling, as ‘protesters’ wearing face masks and sunglasses marched towards a police cordon hurling mock bricks, the Post learned.
In the exercise which ended at 5.30pm yesterday, officers from the elite “blue team” were also deployed to capture ringleaders and rescue colleagues who were under attack. The team comprises officers from the force’s counter-terrorism division and airport security unit.
In all, more than 1,000 officers participated in the training session, which saw Deputy Commissioner of Police Alfred Chau Kwok-leung and Director of Operations Lau Yip-shing turn up to show their support.