More Hospital Staff Join Protest Against Police

More than a hundred medical professionals from Wan Chai’s Ruttonjee and Tang Siu Kin hospitals staged a demonstration on Wednesday against what they call an abuse of force by the police on Sunday.

This means staff from 15 public hospitals have now held rallies after a protester sustained an eye injury by what appeared to be a bean bag round fired by the police in Tsim Sha Tsui on Sunday. Many of the protesters had put gauze over one eye to highlight the young woman's case.

There are conflicting claims as to whether police or protesters were responsible for her injuries.

The demonstrators accused the police of stopping people from getting treatment at protest sites, which they say is against humanitarian laws under the Geneva Convention.

Dr Wilson Cheng, who spoke on behalf of a group of medical professionals at the two hospitals, accused the police of committing war crimes by intentionally stopping rescue work at protest sites and arresting first-aid workers with “false accusations”.

Another doctor, CY Yung, drew loud cheers when he told demonstrators that Ruttonjee Hospital didn’t try to stop their protest and won’t punish them for taking part in the sit-in.

A nursing student, who gave his name as Sunny, was overcome with emotions when he recalled the eye injury of the protester.

"The girl was not even at the front line," he said. "The police still shot in her eyes. That makes me very ... I can't say this ... yeah, I feel very upset about that."

The police have announced a formal probe into the incident.