Departing Police Fire Tear Gas In Tai Koo

Riot police who had been surrounded by hundreds of disgruntled Tai Koo residents fired off two rounds of tear gas before pulling out of the area at the end of a day of drama in the middle class neighbourhood.

The day had started peacefully, with a human chain formed in the Cityplaza mall, before some protesters sprayed graffiti at the entrances of two restaurants inside in the afternoon.

Riot police then stormed in and made several arrests, pepper spraying a number of people in the process, as frightened families scattered or hid inside stores.

Later in the evening, at least five people were hurt during a knife attack right outside the mall. District councillor Andrew Chiu of the Democratic Party got part of his ear bitten off as he tried to prevent the alleged attacker from leaving.

The mandarin-speaking biter also got roundly beaten up by an angry crowd, before riot police arrived.

Even though the mall closed early at around 7.30pm, many residents went down onto the streets to protest both the unwanted police presence, and the knife attack.

A 30-year-old man who lives in the area, Hei, said he wanted to offer protection to anyone who needed it after hearing of the knife attack.

“I think I need to stand up to protect anyone because I [do] sports… you see I’m quite strong, so I just want to protect others” he said.

Several pan-democratic lawmakers arrived after visiting the injured district councillor in hospital, and appealed to the crowd to get off the streets and go home.

Civic Party legislator Jeremy Tam told the crowd that Chiu had wanted them to pass on a message that he did not want further violence to break out in the neighbourhood – only for most people to boo Tam loudly. Some shouted out “Why should we leave? The cops should go!”

A woman who said she’s been living at Taikoo Shing for 27 years, Megan, told RTHK the lawmakers’ appeal wouldn’t work.

“How can you tell the residents here to go home when the police presence here is greatly disliked? In short, they’re not welcome here. So you leave and we leave. You don’t leave, we don’t leave. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

With residents standing their ground and refusing to go, police started to pull out after 10pm.

But while officers were getting back into their vans, some people chucked water bottles and other objects at them, while others shone laser pointers at the departing police.

Several officers then jumped out, fired at least two rounds of tear gas on Tai Mou Avenue. One of the canisters ended up spewing out its toxic contents near East Hotel.

The officers then got back into their vans before they peeled away, as residents responded with another hail of water bottles and other objects.