Masked Protesters Detained Briefly In Central

The police on Saturday detained a couple of masked protesters near Statue Square in Central, seemingly making their first such arrests since the anti-mask law came into effect at midnight.

Officers, dressed in full riot gear, emerged at the square at around 5:30pm, where dozens of people had gathered to sing and chant anti-government slogans.

The police subdued a man and a woman at a tram station just opposite Statue Square and demanded that they take off their masks.

The woman was wearing a black mask while the man had a surgical mask on. The two were released after a short while.

"There is not much people here and suddenly they [police] ran to us," said a man named Fergus who was at the scene.

"Me and my friend feel that maybe the police want to try to use the anti-mask law to arrest some people, to threaten us not to wear a mask any more," he said.

Media footage showed another masked man also being detained and moved to a police van.

The arrest angered many of the people who were present in the area, who started chanting slogans and hurling abuses at the officers. A group of them also started singing.

The police warned them to leave saying it is an illegal assembly and threatened to use pepper spray against the chanters and media who were present there.

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