Hong Kong protests: was police officer justified in opening fire on protester with live round?
- Ex-member of police watchdog defends riot officer who discharged revolver at teenage demonstrator during National Day violence
- Civil rights campaigners suggest review of police procedures as they challenge officer’s decision to open fire
Should the police officer who shot a young protester point blank in the chest with his service revolver have aimed for his limbs instead, or fired a warning shot in the air first?
Many Hongkongers are asking the question amid a chorus of condemnation against the city’s embattled police force after the officer, under attack by radical protesters on October 1, shot 18-year-old secondary school student Tsang Chi-kin during the clash in Tsuen Wan.
Civil rights groups, doctors and politicians are demanding answers and accountability, rejecting the police chief’s defence that it was a “reasonable and lawful” use of lethal force under extreme circumstances, as the officer and his colleagues were being attacked by protesters armed with hammers, rods and petrol bombs.
Students and alumni from Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College – where Tsang studies – called it “attempted murder” by police, as they questioned the justification.
Civil Rights Observer member Icarus Wong Ho-yin urged police to further explain why the officer did not use rubber bullets or beanbag rounds instead to stop the assault.
Video footage of the incident showed a group of protesters chasing an isolated police officer, pinning him to the ground and beating him.