Hong Kong police arrest 230 at Mother’s Day protests, as local media groups slam treatment of journalists covering event
- Police sources say ‘mass arrest’ tactic was intended to deter large crowds from building, while 4,000 officers are being shifted back to riot duty
- Local paper condemns police for ‘violently interfering’ with reporters, while journalist union cites bag searches and pepper spraying of media
Hong Kong police made a mass arrest of some 230 people at protests on Mother’s Day – the largest in months – as two groups representing local media hit out at officers’ handling of reporters covering the anti-government demonstrations.
Police sources said the “containment and mass arrest” strategy was intended to have a deterrent effect on protesters, while the “early intervention” technique of stopping and searching suspicious persons had been used to prevent large crowds from assembling.
Sources separately revealed the force planned to shift 4,000 officers back to its core riot squad from Friday ahead of next month’s protest anniversary.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), meanwhile, has alleged that police had abused and insulted reporters covering the protests, while the Hong Kong News Executives' Association (HKNEA) expressed “extreme regret” over the violent handling of media members.
“[There was] verbal abuse, and in some cases, reporters suffered from being pepper sprayed and were denied immediate treatment,” HKJA chairman Chris Yeung Kin-hing said on Monday, adding some reporters had their bags searched and were told to turn off their cameras, a violation of internal police guidelines on facilitating news reporting.
“They were insulting not only the reporters, but the [whole] profession.”