Hong Kong protests: police use court orders to obtain protesters’ digital fare payment details in another weekend of petrol bombs, tear gas and fires on the streets
- The city’s largest bus company KMB was required to hand over transaction records from Octopus cards in Hong Kong
- Order includes night of September 3 when police boarded a bus in Kowloon Bay and checked bags and ID cards of around 20 people
Hong Kong police have used court orders to obtain digital fare payment details and CCTV camera footage of anti-government protesters from the city’s largest bus company, according to sources.
The revelation came on Saturday as the city entered its 16th straight weekend of protests sparked by the government’s now-withdrawn extradition bill, with more clashes between radicals throwing petrol bombs and police firing back with tear gas and sponge grenades.
A senior police source said the court orders required the KMB bus company to hand over Octopus e-payment card transaction records and footage for specific bus routes on certain days over the past months.
“The court orders are case-specific. One of the cases involves protesters getting on a KMB double-decker on route 42C heading to Lam Tin station on September 3,” the source said.
That was the night protesters boarded a bus in Wong Tai Sin after a rally at Tamar Park. Police entered the bus in Kowloon Bay to check the bags and ID cards of around 20 people.
Another source said KMB had already surrendered the required information, which did not include the actual names of the Octopus users, only their card numbers, meaning police would have to seek further details from the card company itself.