Tuen Mun Hospital, where protesters were taken after Monday’s clashes. Photo: Dickson Lee
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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3032123/man-brain-bleed-and-pregnant-woman-held-hong-kong-hospital Politics
Hong Kong protests: man with brain bleed and pregnant woman held in hospital after weekend of violence triggered by anti-mask law
- Man remains in intensive care for injuries caused by hard objects, while police guard woman’s delivery suite
- Twenty-nine people were taken to hospital during anti-government protests over the long weekend, with 240 arrested
Hong Kong police and protesters clash on October 1. Photo: AFP
Two Hong Kong protesters remain at Tuen Mun Hospital for treatment under police guard after being arrested on Monday, sources familiar with the matter said.
A 27-year-old man, arrested during Monday’s protests, remained in intensive care on Wednesday after he was taken to hospital with a haemorrhage to the left side of his brain, two hospital sources told the South China Morning Post.
His injuries were caused by hard objects striking his head, one source said. Another said he was currently stable, and there were no signs of his condition deteriorating.
Twenty-nine people were injured and taken to hospital during anti-government protests across Hong Kong on Monday. More than 240 people were arrested, with 77 seized over the new anti-mask law, which came into effect on Saturday.
A 19-year-old woman, about eight months pregnant, was among those arrested Monday night for unlawful assembly and criminal damage to Siu Hong MTR station. She was later sent to Tuen Mun Hospital for treatment, with police officers seen guarding her delivery suite on Tuesday.
In a bid to ease four months of social unrest triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to enact the mask ban at all protests.
Lam’s anti-mask law sparked an immediate response from protesters over the long weekend, with police reporting a “sharp escalation in vandalism and property destruction”.
Shops, MTR stations and facilities, public property and buildings were vandalised and the train network was forced to shut down.
Director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor Law Yuk-kai said though the cause of the 27-year-old man’s injuries were not yet confirmed, he noted some police officers had hit protesters’ heads with batons.
“Many uses of batons were unnecessary, and could be fatal if heads were hit,” Law said. “It is more than a single incident. I am worried that it might become systematic abuse.”
Amid the ongoing protests, Law urged police management to remove “emotional officers” from the front lines, and hold accountable those who violated the rules.
A police statement said the injured man was among 10 protesters arrested in Tuen Mun on suspicion of unlawful assembly, violating the anti-mask law and obstructing police officers.
Three males and a female had requested medical treatment and were sent to Tuen Mun hospital.
The statement added police would not obstruct any persons from receiving treatment and had absolute respect for their rights.
An earlier version of this story carried an image of an X-ray of the victim which the Post has been unable to verify