Nearly a third of Hong Kong protesters arrested over past four months of unrest aged under 18, city’s No 2 official reveals, calling trend ‘heartbreaking’

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung also insists government is not trying to wipe out protests altogether with its controversial anti-mask law

Radicals have dismantled 42km (26 miles) of railings, dug up 2,600 square metres (28,000 sq ft) of paving bricks and smashed around a fifth of traffic lights, officials say

Reading Time:3 minutes

Hong Kong has been rocked by four months of anti-government protests. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 12:04am, 11 Oct 2019Updated: 11:53am, 14 Oct 2019

Nearly a third of anti-government protesters arrested over four months of civil unrest in Hong Kong were aged under 18, the city’s No 2 official revealed on Thursday, describing the worrying trend as “shocking” and “heartbreaking”.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung also insisted the government was not trying to wipe out protests altogether with its controversial anti-mask law, and no further measures were forthcoming in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address next Wednesday.

“We have no further intention, particularly in the context of the policy address, of devising new measures to clamp down on protests,” he said.

“We never clamp down on protests. We only clamp down on violence. Protest is allowed if it’s legal, if it’s lawful, if it’s peaceful … it’s part of our core values.”

Among the 2,379 arrested so far since the protests were sparked in June by the government’s now-withdrawn extradition bill, 750 were aged below 18 years, and 104 of them were under 16, accounting for about 4.4 per cent.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x