Members of the Justice Alliance and Alliance In Support of Our Police Force gathered at the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower to commemorate the anniversary of the anti-Occupy “blue ribbon movement”. Meanwhile, supporters of Civic Party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu marched to the government offices to protest the decision to charge him with assaulting police officers.
Around 50 anti-Occupy demonstrators chanted slogans such as “The conscience of Hong Kong, we love the police” and tore up pictures of the Occupy movement convenors. Pictures of pan-democratic figures rendered them as pests. Organiser and Justice Alliance founder Leticia Lee See-yin also asked members of the public to write their blessings to Hong Kong and the police on blue balloons.
“We request that the police continue to enforce the law strictly… we support the police force in carrying out their duties to the best of their abilities,” Lee told RTHK. “I also suggest that we support the seven police officers who will be in court tomorrow… I must remind everyone to be patient and tolerant. There will surely be people who attempt to provoke fights.”
Ken Tsang and the seven police officers charged with beating him up during last year’s pro-democracy Occupy movement, as well as the fifteen Tsang has been accused of assaulting and obstructing, will all appear in court on Monday.
‘Political persecution’
Meanwhile, around 30 people took part in a march to protest against the decision to charge Ken Tsang with assaulting police officers. Demonstrators marched from Southorn Playground to the Police Headquarters in Wan Chai, then to the Queensway Government Offices at Admiralty, chanting slogans along the way and carrying yellow umbrellas.
They threw eggs at paper signboards bearing the faces of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, and former and current Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung and Lo Wai-chung, Now TV reported.
A spokesperson for the group said that charging Ken Tsang was an act of political persecution and that the aim was to dilute and divert attention from the crimes of the seven police officers. The group also asked Rimsky Yuen to investigate whether anyone was giving false testimonies.
On October 15 2014, seven police officers were filmed apparently kicking and punching Tsang in front of a wall near the government headquarters in Tamar, Admiralty, in an incident that has been dubbed “the dark corner” of police violence. Exactly a year later, the seven officers were charged with wounding or striking with intent to do grievous bodily harm, while Tsang was also arrested for assaulting and obstructing 15 other police officers.
