President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday condemned the actions of the Hong Kong Police Force for their attacks on student protesters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The purpose of the police is to protect people, Tsai said on Facebook, calling for the Hong Kong government to stop their police violence against the public.
“Hong Kong’s freedom and rule of law is being eroded by authoritarian rule,” Tsai said. “I urge those in the international community who believe in the values of freedom and democracy to stand up and pay attention to the out-of-control situation in Hong Kong.”
Photo: CNA
Tsai’s remarks came after several people left comments on a post she made a day earlier imploring her to seek more international help for Hong Kong.
Riot police on Tuesday fired tear gas and rubber rounds at student protesters at the university, and at one point deployed a water cannon truck.
The police arrested a number of students on campus, but the exact number has not been confirmed.
The DPP late on Tuesday said in a statement that the behavior of the Hong Kong government was unforgivable.
“In the months since Hong Kong’s people began protesting against the anti-extradition bill, there have been ceaseless incidents of police brutality against Hong Kong citizens,” the DPP said, referring to a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extradition from the territory to China.
Police have this week stormed multiple universities in Hong Kong and arrested students, as well as firing live rounds at protesters, causing hundreds of people to require medical treatment, the youngest of whom was only four months old, it said.
This is proof that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula has destroyed rule of law in the territory, leading Hong Kong to become a police state, it added.
The DPP called for Taiwanese to stand with the people of Hong Kong, as Taiwan has also had to fight for the democracy and freedoms it enjoys today.
Two other senior party officials — DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) — yesterday echoed those sentiments.
At a news conference, Lin compared Beijing’s attempts to destroy its “one country, two systems” policy in Hong Kong to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Su urged the Hong Kong government to listen to the demands of the protesters, saying on Facebook that “regimes protected by guns will eventually be ended by the people.”
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