Shooting of Hong Kong schoolboy Tsang Chi-kin ‘totally legal and appropriate’, Chinese state media says
- At the time of the incident in Tsuen Wan, the life of the police officer ‘was under serious threat and he was forced to shoot’, Xinhua says in commentary
- The ‘black terror’ that has gripped the city for the past three months ‘is close to craziness’, article says
China’s state media has defended the shooting of a Hong Kong schoolboy by a police officer on Tuesday as “totally legal and appropriate”, once again blaming the protests in the city on unidentified “manipulators”.
Critics said the police officer who fired the shot acted on a misjudgment and should have tried to de-escalate the situation rather than use potentially lethal force. The city’s police authority defended the officer, saying he believed his life was in danger.
“Rioters attacked police officers on a great scale at Tsuen Wan,” Xinhua said in a commentary early Wednesday morning. “The life of the officer at the scene was under serious threat and he was forced to shoot at the assailant to protect his own life as well as his colleagues.”
“[His] action was totally legal, legitimate and appropriate,” it said.
“The ‘black terror’ that has lasted for more than three months is close to craziness,” it said. “To stop the violence and curb disorder, we must make prominent the power of the rule of law, cut out the tumour of violence and prosecute all rioters in accordance with the law as soon as possible.”
