Lawmakers on each side of Hong Kong’s political divide yesterday said the other side bears responsibility after violence erupted during anti-government protests over the weekend.
Pro-government members of the Legislative Council condemned the acts of protesters who blocked streets, threw gasoline bombs and assaulted police officers.
“You can say a lot of different opinions to the government,” Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong Chairwoman Starry Lee (李慧瓊) said. “But violence is different. If we can accept violence, our city will be ruined.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pro-democracy legislators countered that the government and the police need to take responsibility, the former for introducing extradition legislation that sparked the protests and the latter for what they say is selective enforcement of the law targeting government opponents.
Civic Party Lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒) blamed Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥).
He called her creation of a platform for dialogue a delaying tactic rather than an attempt to resolve the conflict.
Photo: AFP
“She is the one who should shoulder all the responsibility, and now she is trying to get away from all the responsibility and shifting the focus to the so- called platform,” Kwok said.
A hardline contingent took over streets on Saturday and Sunday following peaceful pro-democracy marches. Police used tear gas to clear the streets and arrested more than 80 people, including a 12-year-old, for unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and assaulting police.
Hong Kong Assistant Police Commissioner Terence Mak (麥展豪) called the actions of the hardline protesters reckless and a grave threat to public safety.
He said that 21 officers were injured on Sunday in Tsuen Wan district in the New Territories.
An officer fell to the ground under a barrage of blows from “rioters” who had “the clear intention to take his life,” Mak said.
“One officer fired a warning shot into the air,” he added, while six officers held up their revolvers as a precautionary measure.
It is believed to be the first live round fired by an officer during the current crisis.
“The police have zero tolerance for violent acts,” Mak said.
He asked citizens to ask themselves: “Is this the Hong Kong you would like to see?”
The firing of a live round prodded an angry response from social media users, who mocked a police spokesman who had praised the “valiant and restrained” actions of officers.
A 20-year-old protester who was at Sunday’s demonstration said that “the antagonism between the movement and the police is too big to fix now.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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