An international human rights group investigation into the police response to protests in Hong Kong has uncovered multiple instances of what investigators say is excessive force and torture.
Amnesty International interviewed 21 protesters detained or arrested by Hong Kong police. Of those interviewed, 18 had to be hospitalized after their run-in with law enforcement. Three stayed hospitalized for at least five days.
The 21 protesters interviewed by group is a small sample of the roughly 1,300 people arrested by Hong Kong police since demonstrations started in March over proposed legislation that would extradite some criminals to China to face trial.
“The Hong Kong police’s heavy-handed crowd-control response on the streets has been livestreamed for the world to see. Much less visible is the plethora of police abuses against protesters that take place out of sight,” Amnesty International East Asia Director Nicholas Bequelin said.
“Hong Kong’s security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests,” Bequelin added. “This has included arbitrary arrests and retaliatory violence against arrested persons in custody, some of which has amounted to torture.”
According to one account, police beat a protester after he refused to answer questions. During the beating, the police forced the protester’s eye open and shined a red laser directly into it in apparent retaliation for protesters shining lasers at police.
“I felt my legs hit with something really hard. Then one [officer] flipped me over and put his knees on my chest. I felt the pain in my bones and couldn’t breathe. I tried to shout but I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t talk,” the protester said. He was later hospitalized for a bone fracture and internal bleeding.
Another protester witnessed police forcing a boy to shine a red laser into his own eye for roughly 20 seconds after the boy apparently shined the laser at the police station.
A third protester said anti-riot police charged a crowd of protesters and beat him down as the crowd was attempting to flee.
“Immediately I was beaten to the ground. Three of them got on me and pressed my face hard to the ground. A second later, they kicked my face,” the protester said. “The same three [Special Tactical Squad agents] kept putting pressure on my body. I started to have difficulty breathing, and I felt severe pain in my left ribcage.”
