HONG KONG — Video footage of law enforcement officials in Hong Kong pinning a schoolgirl to the bottom throughout a protest has set off a public outcry over the police’s use of drive amid a widening crackdown on political dissent.
The footage reveals the 12-year-old lady strolling in a purchasing space in Hong Kong close to a website the place riot law enforcement officials had been attempting to cease demonstrators from gathering on Sunday. It reveals the lady operating as a number of officers approached her. Just a few officers gave chase, and one in all them held her down whereas onlookers shouted in anger.
The footage shot by native reporters rapidly drew a flood of crucial feedback on social media. On Tuesday, lecturers, psychologists and social staff circulated a petition demanding an apology from the authorities and a name for the officers concerned to be investigated. The organizers mentioned that the petition had gathered greater than 10,000 signatures after a couple of hours.
The petition criticized the police’s techniques as an “indiscriminate therapy of kids” who didn’t participate in protests. They warned that such techniques might “plant seeds of hatred in opposition to regulation enforcement officers amongst youngsters.”
The police mentioned that the officers had used “minimal mandatory drive” whereas chasing the lady, whom they mentioned “all of the sudden ran away in a suspicious method.”
The police mentioned officers issued her a ticket for violating social distancing laws put in place to restrict the unfold of the coronavirus. Her members of the family mentioned in tv interviews that they might contest any high-quality levied for the violations.
The lady, who has not been recognized publicly due to her age, advised the native information media that she had felt focused due to her age.
“I really feel like being younger is against the law,” she mentioned.
The police have arrested greater than 3,000 college students at protests that began in June final yr, a development that has drawn concern from rights teams. Mrs. Lam, the town’s chief, has mentioned the arrests uncovered how campuses have been focused by forces hostile to the native and central governments.
