Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged Hong Kong to probe alleged police abuses at a massive anti-government rally this month and claimed the police had used “disproportionate force” against the media.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on July 1 to vent their frustration at government policies and soaring property prices in Hong Kong’s biggest rally in seven years.
The rally was largely peaceful, but rights groups have accused police of violating the right to assembly after they arrested 231 people and used pepper spray to disperse a crowd after the march.
The New York-based rights group said in a statement that some journalists had been hit with pepper spray directly in their face and eyes and slammed the police for detaining a human rights observer who was videotaping the police action.
“If [Hong Kong Chief Executive] Donald Tsang [曾蔭權] and the Hong Kong government turn a blind eye to alleged police abuses, they risk Hong Kong’s reputation as a bastion for civil liberties,” HRW’s Asia advocacy director Sophie Richardson said.
“At a time when freedom of speech and assembly and the rights of a free press are under serious attack by Chinese security forces just over the border, it’s essential for the Hong Kong government to demonstrate a strong commitment to the defence of those same rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” she added.
Television news footage has showed police used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators following a standoff that lasted a few hours. Some were later forcibly removed, handcuffed and carried into police trucks.
Police and Hong Kong Security Bureau officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The police have reportedly defended their action, saying officers had acted in a restrained manner and used minimal force.
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but retains a semi-autonomous status under the “one country, two systems” model, with civil liberties including freedom of speech not enjoyed in mainland China.
Rights groups have expressed concern over the territory’s lower tolerance toward dissent in recent years, including the denial of entry to high-profile critics of China such as 1989 Tiananmen Square student protest leader Wang Dan (王丹).
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in