Violent protesters condemned

September 1, 2019

Police have severely condemned protesters' escalating violence and use of progressively lethal weapons in various districts from yesterday to the small hours of today.

 

A large group of protesters took part in an unlawful assembly in various districts across the city, despite an objection and warning by Police. Large-scale clashes broke out as they hurled petrol bombs at government buildings and assaulted police officers recklessly with bricks and iron poles.

 

Some protesters even hurled miscellaneous objects and iron railings on to an MTR railroad and committed arson inside an MTR station, completely disregarding the safety of other passengers. The safety of police officers and other members of the public was seriously threatened.

 

Police had earlier issued a notice of objection against a public event on Hong Kong Island scheduled on August 31. However, some people continued to call on protesters on the Internet to participate in an unauthorised assembly in Wan Chai.

 

At about 2pm yesterday, a large group of protesters marched through Hennessy Road to Central and set barricades along various throughways on Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road and Des Voeux Road Central, seriously paralysing Hong Kong Island traffic.

 

At about 5pm, a group of radical protesters started storming the Central Government Offices, Legislative Council Complex and Police Headquarters. They hurled petrol bombs, corrosives, bricks and miscellaneous objects at police officers and committed arson at various locations.

 

After giving repeated warnings in vain, officers conducted dispersal operations with appropriate force. The specialised crowd management vehicle was deployed to stop the protesters’ violent acts.

 

The protesters later went to Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and North Point, and blocked Hennessy Road, Fenwick Street and King's Road.

 

Some set fire to large barricades at the junction of Hennessy Road and Johnston Road. The fire was fierce at one point, posing a serious danger to nearby residents. The specialised crowd management vehicle was again deployed to disperse the crowd.

 

At about 9pm, two police officers conducting operations near Victoria Park were surrounded and attacked by a large group of violent protesters who at one point, attempted to snatch police pistols.

 

With their lives under serious threat, the officers fired two warning shots into the air to protect their own safety.

 

In Kowloon, multiple batches of radical protesters also illegally assembled in Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Hang Hau and Tin Shui Wai, where they besieged police stations, blocked roads, criminally damaged public facilities and vandalised a number of MTR stations.

 

In the past months, radical protesters have escalated their violent acts from blocking main thoroughfares to frequently using lethal weapons such as petrol bombs. Some of them even blatantly assaulted police officers. The level of violence is rapidly escalating and their illegal acts have no regard for the laws of Hong Kong.

 

Police will continue to take resolute enforcement actions to safeguard the city’s public safety and bring all lawbreakers to justice.

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