Hong Kong protests: police use pepper spray against angry crowd at railway station as Bar Association accuses force of ‘abuse of power’
- Police subdued two men in black tops on concourse of Prince Edward station, and one of the men, who was wearing a gas mask, passed out during incident
- Lawyers’ group issues strongly worded statement and claims officers obstructed those trying to provide legal assistance to suspects
Hong Kong police used pepper spray and batons in Prince Edward MTR station on Tuesday night after they were surrounded by an angry crowd complaining about officers subduing a man on the concourse.
At the same time, the Bar Association, the city’s top legal professional body, issued a statement condemning “any abuse of power” by the force.
“In the past few months there has been a great deal of television and video footage showing police officers using excessive force to disperse protesters and in making arrests,” it said, and accused the force of an “indiscriminate use of tear gas”, and shooting crowd-control projectiles at shoulder height or above at close range.
Beating suspects upon their arrest appeared to be widespread, it added.
“Video footage from the Prince Edward MTR station last Saturday night show riot police launching indiscriminate attacks, without any apparent lawful excuse, and using pepper spray on passengers inside a train compartment or hitting them with batons, especially since the officers in question left the train carriage afterwards without making any arrests,” the association said.