Hong Kong police criticized for use of force against crowd
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s security forces faced widespread criticism Thursday over the tear gas and rubber bullets that local police used a day earlier to suppress tens of thousands of people demonstrating against an unpopular bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China.
Criticism of the security force’s measures came swiftly and raised the political cost for Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, who firmly supports the bill. Debate on the legislation, which had been postponed from Wednesday to Thursday, was again postponed for at least two more days.
Videos of the protests in which officers appear to be using excessive force circulated widely across social media, and the police action was condemned by pro-democracy activists, human rights groups and opposition lawmakers.
Footage of unarmed protesters fleeing from clouds of tear gas or facing off with riot police officers pointing batons at them was broadcast around the world, an unfamiliar sight in the wealthy Asian financial hub famed for its glitzy skyscrapers.
Even a number of former senior officials joined in criticizing both the police actions and the bill. Joseph Wong, a former civil service secretary, told a local broadcaster that Lam’s decision to push ahead with the measure despite such strong opposition was “nothing short of a dictator’s act” and called for an independent review of the police’s use of force.
The Hong Kong police chief defended his officers, saying they were mostly restrained but had to respond with force when some protesters tried to storm the Legislative Council.
Instead of pushing back the small group of demonstrators, officers appeared determined to use tear gas and rubber bullets over the vast majority of protesters in order to clear the roads around the building they had occupied.
On Thursday, tensions had eased, though police physically prevented a group of pro-democracy lawmakers from completing a protest march toward Lam’s residence. Some of the lawmakers said their hometown had begun to feel like a police state.