Rival Groups Rally Over Mong Kok Police Action

The Labour Party on Wednesday marched to the Wan Chai police headquarters, calling for a criminal probe into some officers over the Mong Kok clearance operation on Sunday night, while a police support group rallied calling for the arrest of pro-democracy lawmakers who had been present at the protest scene.

The Labour Party members said the police turned down their request to open a criminal investigation.

The pro-democracy party’s chairman, Steven Kwok, said they presented five pieces of video footage as evidence, purportedly showing officers hitting or kicking demonstrators even after they were pinned down.

But Kwok said when he and several party members filed a report at the police headquarters, the duty officer did not open a case, but referred them to the force’s internal investigation unit – the Complaints Against Police Office.

Officers have been accused of using excessive force not only against protesters but also journalists who were covering events at the scene, with the Journalists Association and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association issuing a joint statement complaining about the “malicious jostling” of journalists.

A group in support of the police, meanwhile, criticised the action of a number of pro-democracy lawmakers during the clearance operation.

The group, whose Chinese name translates as “Anti-black money, anti-Hong Kong independence concern group”, on Wednesday filed a police report against Jeremy Tam, Au Nok-hin and Roy Kwong.

The group complained that the trio were at the scene when violent protests took place in the past.

The group’s convenor, Don Wong, said the trio are clearly not fit to be legislators.