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Letters

I refer to your report, “‘No choice but to fire tear gas at crowds’” (June 11), in which assistant police commissioner Rupert Dover recollects the first major clash between the police and extradition bill protesters on June 12, 2019.
What Dover refrains from recalling is the police’s use of tear gas on peaceful protesters outside Citic Tower, as the Civil Human Rights Front was holding a rally there, under a police letter of no objection. 
Rounds of tear gas were deployed at both ends of Lung Wui Road. Trapped on the road and desperately seeking a way out, the protesters fled into Citic Tower. This nearly caused a stampede in and out of the tower.
What is questionable is not the use of tear gas itself, but the excessive use of it, targeting people who were lawfully exercising their freedom of assembly.


Dover uses a judicial review as a shield to avoid further questions from your reporter, but the wound was inflicted a year ago. However reluctant he was to use tear gas on the crowd, Dover’s decision marked a point of no return for Hong Kong.
Ben L. Tsang, Yuen Long
 



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Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong protests: police decisions on June 12 marked point of no return

Protesters rush into Citic Tower as police fire tear gas on June 12, 2019. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong protests: one year on, with the national security law looming, has the anti-government movement lost?

Hong Kong marks a year since the anti-government movement began. Illustration: Brian Wang

A picture shows (right)British National (Overseas) passport / BNO passport, and (left)HKSAR passport. 12NOV18 SCMP / Fung Chang

Tables and chairs are taped for the social distancing law enforcement to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in Admiralty. Hong Kong announced plans to ban gatherings of more than four people and close cinemas, gyms and arcades, after the Asian financial center recorded its largest one-day surge in coronavirus cases on March 27. 29MAR20 SCMP / Nora Tam

Citizen enjoying their Sunday amid the pandemic in Causeway Bay. 03MAY20 SCMP/ May Tse

Protesters march from Causeway Bay to the Government Headquarters (Central Government Offices)in Admiralty, in protest against the extradition bill. The Civil Human Rights Front has estimated that 300,000 residents will join their third mass rally against the bill. 09JUN19 SCMP / Sam Tsang

Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit with Civil Human Rights Front meets the media outside the Police Headquarters in Wan Chai, after a meeting with police for the massive anti-government march on 21 July. 17JUL19 SCMP / Dickson Lee

Protesters show 'five demands' gesture as Hong Kong people participate in their annual pro-democracy march in Causeway Bay. The five demands include democratic elections for Hong Kong's leader and legislature and a demand for a probe of police behavior during the six months of continuous protests. 01JAN20 SCMP/ Sam Tsang

Protesters march from Causeway Bay to the Government Headquarters in Admiralty, in protest against the extradition bill. The Civil Human Rights Front has estimated that 300,000 residents will join their third mass rally against the bill. 09JUN19 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

Police armoured vehicles  on the Cheong Wan Road flyover during clashes between riot police and students on the bridge of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel besides Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hung Hom. 17NOV19 SCMP / Sam Tsang

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump points as he boards Air Force One at Bangor International airport in Bangor, Maine, on June 5, 2020. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP)

(L-R): Lawmakers Andrew Wan Siu-kin of the Democratic Party and Felix Chung Kwok-pan of Liberal Party debate the power of IPCC during the RTHK programme Accountability at the RTHK Radio Station in Kowloon Tong. 14DEC19 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching (bottom) takes photos of fellow lawmakers (Top Left to right): Roy Kwong Chun-yu; Gary Fan Kwok-wai; Ted Hui Chi-fung; and Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, as they sit in protest against the extradition bill, at the Legislative Council Complex in Tamar. Pro-democracy lawmakers vowed to camp there until Jun 09 to draw more people to a mass protest the extradition bill. 06JUN19 SCMP / Felix Wong

How Hong Kong protests erupted and what lies ahead for movement marking anniversary on June 9

Protesters march from Causeway Bay to government headquarters in Admiralty in June 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

Anti-extradition bill protesters with the Hong Kong colonial flags and a gigantic 'British National (Overseas) passport attend 'Stand with HK: Power to the People' Rally, organised by local academic community at Chater Garden, Central. 16AUG19 SCMP / Winson Wong

(L-R) Murder suspect Chan Tong-kai with Reverend Canon Peter Koon Ho-ming, leaving the Pik Uk Correctional Institution, Clear Water Bay. Chan bows for forgiveness before leaving.  23OCT19 Photo: SCMP/Winson Wong

A protester covers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region emblem with a British colonial flag as protesters storm the Legislative Council Chamber in Tamar during a protest against the extradition bill on the 22nd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China. 01JUL19 SCMP / Sam Tsang

Thousands of protesters gathered in Central on thanksgiving day to express gratitude to Washington for signing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law, with the organiser compiling a list of 100 people whom it hoped US would impose sanctions on. 28NOV19 SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

Anti-riot police officers stops the press from going any further during a anti-government demonstration, Causeway Bay.  Anti-government demonstrations were held in various locations in Hong Kong today, in protest against the national anthem law and the national security law, as Legco begins debate on the national anthem law today. 27MAY20 SCMP / Dickson Lee

People wearing face masks in Causeway Bay whilst social distancing rules are still in effect amid coronavirus pandemic. Hong Kong recorded no new coronavirus infections today, the 14th day in a row without any local infection. 03MAY20 SCMP / May Tse

Hong Kong protests: Amnesty International praises Hongkongers for standing up in face of ‘abusive policing’

A police officer fires pepper spray at an anti-government protester during a rally in Central. Photo: Sam Tsang

Police water cannon truck blasts blue dyed water at anti-government protesters; at the junction of Tim Wa Avenue and Harcourt Road; Admiralty. Protest continues regardless of police refusing permission for a mass march and rally by the Civil Human Rights Front. 31AUG19 SCMP / Felix Wong

Opinion

Hong Kong police

Human rights

Hong Kong extradition bill