A police officer claims the Hong Kong force has become a 'political tool', after a demonstrator was arrested for spraying a central government liaison office security guard with champagne.
Some senior officers were shocked and shamed by the detention of Ip Ho-yee, the officer, who did want to be named, said.
Ip, 22, was arrested - but later released - after a celebration held outside the office on Sunday to mark the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo .
The officer said: 'This case makes the force look like a political tool, a low-class one.'
Law Yuk-kai, the director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said: 'This arrest was a common insult to all Hong Kong people, which did not make sense at all. [The police] lost their professional judgment and became political clowns in this case.'
Veteran democrat Szeto Wah said Ip's arrest was a joke.
'This was intentionally carried out by the Hong Kong government. The government has allied with the liaison office to suppress the democratic movement in Hong Kong in the past year,' Szeto said