Rampaging protesters’ trail of destruction in Hong Kong’s legislature revealed, with doors and windows smashed, walls defaced and monitors wrecked
- Damage revealed during 1½-hour tour for journalists to survey the vandalism inside the building
- Insults and slogans sprayed on wall included ‘Dog officials’ and ‘Down down Carrie Lam’
The damage was fully revealed on Wednesday during a 1½-hour tour organised by the Legislative Council Secretariat for journalists to survey the inside of the building, which had been sealed off by police for their continuing investigation.
The power was still working and lighting and air conditioning appeared to be in good condition on the lower floors. Reporters did not visit lawmakers’ offices, located on the higher floors.
Some read: “Dog officials”, “Down down Carrie Lam” and “We want genuine universal suffrage”.
Outside the chamber, on the wall where portraits of former Legco presidents hung, only two were still in place – those of Andrew Wong Wang-fat and the late John Swaine, both from the pre-handover era. Wong’s had been defaced slightly.
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The portraits of the three post-handover Legco presidents, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing and incumbent Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, were missing. They were seen damaged during the rampage. A column was spray-painted “Hong Kong is not China”.
Inside the chamber, the city’s official emblem was smeared with black paint. Documents, presumably belonging to lawmakers, were torn and littered the floor. Some of the monitors at the lawmakers’ benches were broken.
The antechamber opposite, where lawmakers can rest during meetings, was trashed. On a shelf that is used to display souvenirs by overseas guests, some items were missing. A television set was also broken.
In the security control room, some ghost banknotes were left scattered on the floor. Many of the monitors were broken, as well as a photocopier. Some desks were turned upside down. On the ceiling outside one exit hung a broken “emergency exit” sign.
Around the corridors and meeting rooms, many of the CCTV cameras on the ceilings were blinded or had been dragged out. And terminals for displaying information on Legco businesses were damaged.
Pieces of broken glass carpeted the floor of the main lobby near the public entrance.
The press officers said it was unknown how long it would take to repair the building or the costs involved.
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From 1pm on Monday – the 22nd anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain to China – a mob of protesters used a metal cart to smash through the legislature’s glass door. For about eight hours, they used metal bars to pummel the building’s windows and doors before breaking in around 9pm and vandalising the building.
