Hong Kong protests: if people behaved, police wouldn’t have to use force, government says, as it hits back at critical Human Rights Watch report
- Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s administration responds after rights group accuses officers of beating protesters
- Officials say police act ‘in strict accordance with the law’
The Hong Kong government has hit back at accusations from Human Rights Watch of excessive police force at protests, and said officers acted “in strict accordance with the law”.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s administration responded on Wednesday to the US group’s annual report, which accused the city’s police of beating subdued protesters and allowing suspected gang members to roam free after attacking pro-democracy lawmakers.
Immigration officials at Hong Kong International Airport denied Kenneth Roth, the group’s executive director, entry into the city on Sunday, three days before he was expected to unveil the 652-page report, which documents human rights abuses around the world, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
The report used a picture of Hong Kong’s ongoing protests, triggered in June by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, as its cover image, and gave extensive coverage to the protests when it wrote about the city.
“If members of the public could express their views in a peaceful and rational manner, there would be no need for the police to use any force,” a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
While the report noted that most protesters were peaceful, it acknowledged some had thrown petrol bombs at police and attacked those perceived as pro-Beijing, including setting a man on fire.