Around 100 protesters gathered in Mong Kok’s Sai Yeung Choi Street on Thursday evening, leading to a tense standoff between the protesters and police.
Some protesters raised yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the pro-democracy Occupy movement in 2014. Police officers stopped and searched the demonstrators, which led to the crowd jeering back at the police, reported Mingpao.
Backup police officers were called and batons were taken out briefly, leading to a stalemate between the police and the protesters.
However, tensions later died down and the crowd dispersed.
According to Jimmy Pang Chi-ming on Facebook, a group of police officers “rushed into the crowd out of the blue” and started to “behave violently.”
“A police officer who seemed to have lost it ran up to snatch my camera,” he said.
有片為證。今晚，十時多在旺角西洋菜街，有十多個差佬無情白事，突然衝入人群中「動粗」，目露凶光，有途人舉機拍攝，也被推打，最終，有個樣似失常的差佬，衝前搶我攝影機。在此，本人嚴正譴責該欲搶劫我攝影機的「暴徒」。有片為證。
Posted by Pang Chi Ming on Thursday, 11 February 2016
“I am telling you not to hit me,” said a police officer with his finger pointed at a protester in the video.
According to Apple Daily, one man was arrested for trying to break police defences repeatedly. He fell and injured himself in the process, was arrested for obstructing police and was later hospitalised.
It is not unusual for “Gau wu” protesters, a legacy from the Occupy Movement to congregate in the area. However, tensions between the police and protesters have risen after the unrest in Mong Kok on Monday.
