Police defend firing tear gas and pepper balls in Hong Kong MTR stations during clashes with protesters, despite condemnation by residents and rail unions
- Commuters and rail staff tell of pain and discomfort after deployment of tear gas, but police say they used ‘minimum force’ against violent protesters
- Unions describe police charge at protesters on moving escalator as ‘terrifying’
Think tank employee Thomas Yip was on the platform of Kwai Fong MTR station on Sunday night when stinging smoke flooded the area.
Spotting two elderly women, the 40-year-old went to help them, thinking police might have fired tear gas at anti-government protesters he had seen on the streets around the station in the densely populated New Territories town.
“The smoke was very thick on the platform,” he recalled on Monday. “My eyes hurt.”
Covering their mouths with their hands, Yip and the two women made their way from the elevated platform to the street-level concourse, only to be shocked to discover that the police had fired tear gas into the station.
Sunday was a day of violent clashes between police and protesters, whose demonstrations have entered their 10th week, but the Kwai Fong incident was the first time officers had fired tear gas inside a railway station.
On Hong Kong Island, there were also chaotic scenes at Tai Koo MTR station in the middle-class Quarry Bay area.