Protest In Tsim Sha Tsui To Support Injured Woman

Dozens of people held a protest outside the Tsim Sha Tsui police station on Thursday evening to mark World Sight Day by showing their support for a woman who suffered a serious eye injury there during an anti-government protest on August 11.

Supporters say she was shot with a non-lethal projectile fired by police, citing photos appearing to show a bean-bag round lodged in a pair of goggles next to the injured woman. However, there have also been suggestions that she may have been hurt by a projectile flung by a protester.

Protesters – many of them wearing masks in defiance of a new ban implemented last Saturday – chanted protest slogans and held up signs saying ‘five demands, not one less.’

Many shouted abuse at officers standing guard inside the gates.

Police patrolling the area periodically stopped and searched people on the street, and took at least two men into the station, drawing condemnation from the crowd.

One participant, retail worker Kay, said she moved to Hong Kong from the mainland, and doesn’t want to see the SAR turn into just another mainland city.

“The government is allowing the police to misuse their power, and use extreme force. If we don’t come out to voice out [our views] now, we won’t have the chance any more”, she said.

Elsewhere, large crowds of people gathered at various malls across the city to sing songs and chant slogans demanding the government accept the protest movement’s key demands – including an independent probe into alleged police abuse of power, and amnesty for arrested protesters.

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