Collateral Damage in the Police Force

1628 | #TaiPo Mega City

Netizens initiated a "Shop with you" at Tai Po Mega City this afternoon. During the riot police's dispersion operation, two plainclothes police officers were suspected to be demonstrators and they were tied around the neck and pushed to the wall uniforms outside the mall. They were later being recognized as "[their] own people", and were released.

Many people were arrested in the vicinity of the shopping mall. Police officers were suspected to have deployed pepper spray and blue dye in the shopping mall. Some elderly people had their faces stained blue due to the blue dye.

#MaskedPolice #UndercoverPolice #TeamKill #26Dec #BoxingDay #HongKongChristmas

Source: Stand News

Riot Police Suddenly Became "Thankful" to Councilor, but Still Hostile Towards Citizens

2151 | #TaiPo
Police said that Ray Au Chun Wah, Tai Po District Councilor, was "good" as he "notified Police of the whereabout of rioters via Facebook live". They even cheered sarcastically, "Thank you Councilor Au!"

Soon after, large groups of police ran to Plover Cove Garden, and told reporters, "It's useless to film us. Just film the rioters!"

Source: Stand News

#26Dec #HongKongChristmas #BoxingDay

Police Confirms Use of “Coloured Pepper Spray” in Tai Po

This afternoon at Tai Po Mega Mall, protestors entered stores and shouted, "Close the gate," after achieving their objectives in their targeted restaurants.

Riot police then entered the mall to make arrests. While doing so, they deployed a pungent blue liquid at their targets. A few passers-by were shot at by the police with that liquid, including an elder.

The Police Force confirmed that the blue liquid was “dyed pepper spray”. In response to enquiries, the Police stated that “dyed pepper spray” was one of the categories of pepper spray, with its intention to easily identify identify law breakers, so that arrests could be made more efficiently. They continued to stated that this type of spray contains the same components as the ones commonly used by police and that the dye is non-toxic, meaning no harm would be done to human bodies, and neither would it pose as a threat to public health.

Source: RTHK

#26Dec #HongKongChristmas #BoxingDay #TaiPo

#Privacy #BoxingDay
Police Deliberately Displayed Reporter’s HKID Card, Privacy Commissioner Stated There Are Sufficient Ground to Investigate

[Editor's note: Regarding the police's disregard of personal privacy on Boxing Day, questions have been raised over the authorities' handling of the police force and the worsening infringement on rights and freedoms. On the same day, police had forced a insurance company employee passing by a commercial complex to open a sealed confidential letter and show them the letter content which is not supposed to be exposed to anyone.]

Previously, https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/14135

A police officer displayed a reporter’a Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID card) before a live streaming camera while he was inspecting the HKID card of the reporter that he intercepted in Taipo in the afternoon of December 26.

Stephen Wong, the Privacy Commissioner, stated in his written response to RTHK’s enquiry that there was sufficient ground to commence an investigation; however before completion of a thorough investigation, the Commissioner would not comment on this particular incident. He commented that based on a preliminary observation, the personal data of the reporter in question was inevitably disclosed during a live stream.

The Commissioner pointed out that anyone collecting personal data without consent of the data subject and disclose such personal data, and if such disclose causes physiological harm to the data subject, whether such disclosure is intentional or not, the person might have breached the relevant regulations under the Data Privacy law, and upon conviction the maximum penalty is a fine of $1 million and 5 years imprisonment. Stephen Wong stated that according to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, when using personal data, including disclosure, if the purpose of the use of the personal data is different from the purpose at the time of collection or is not directly related, the data user must obtain consent from the relevant party. The data user must ensure that the personal data collected shall not be disclosed without authorisation or accidentally.

Source: RTHK #27Dec

300-strong Human Chain formed by youngsters at Taipo, Elderly moved to Tears

On December 31, around 300 people held hands outside Taipo Market railway station and formed a human chain. Many elderly passers-by thanked youngsters on the scene, among them, one white-haired lady started to shed tears.

Source: United Social Press

#NewYearEve #Taipo #HumanChain #Dec31

13-Year-Old Girl Falls to Her Death at Tai Wo Estate

At 7:53 this morning (Jan 6) at Hei Wo House Tai Wo Estate, Tai Po, the police received a report from a man that a young girl was found lying dead on the platform of the upper site and was suspected of having fallen off from a high place. Ambulancemen rushed to the scene after receiving the report, only to find the girl had died of her injuries.

No suicide note was discovered at the scene. Later the scene was sealed. The relatives of the victim also came to assist the investigation. The police took a black cloth to cover the dead body. After preliminary investigation, it was confirmed that the victim's surname was Lee (13 years old). It was believed that she had fallen from a apartment in the building. The incident was declared "not suspicious", but the cause of death had to be determined by autopsy.

Source: ON.CC
#6Jan #Death #TaiPo

#FirstHand #Interivew #Mar8
Interview With Tai Po District Councillor Lam Ming-yat: Riot Police Shot Pepper Spray To Another Council Member Man Nim-chi Despite He Was Cooperative

Before the start of the rally against Tai Po Jockey Club Clinic being a designated clinic for Chinese Pneumonia patients, large number of riot police officers were deployed and they frisked people at the scene including residents and press.

Tai Po district councilors also stood-by in case of emergency. According to Tai Po District Councillor Lam Ming-yat, despite riot police kept changing the cordon lines forward without proper communication, district councilors including Man Nim-chi were corporative. That said, when Man Nim-chi was stepping back, riot polices suddenly shot his back with pepper spray without any prior warning. Man was hurt and received assistance from voluntary first-aiders accordingly.

Lam also pointed that the rally had not started successfully due to police’s mass arrest. At least 20 teenagers were stopped and searched by police. From his observation, none of them carried dangerous item.

#PoliceState #TaiPo #Protests

Further reading:
Citizen: "This is No Least Amount of Force!"
Police: "It is as It is"
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/18249