Scores Rally To Mark Police Raid On MTR Station

Dozens of people gathered at two shopping malls in Mong Kok on Sunday to mark last year's police storming of Prince Edward MTR Station during the anti-government protests.

On August 31 last year, riot officers raced into the station and battered and pepper-sprayed people as they detained them, in what was one of the most violent episodes of the months-long unrest.

Calls circulated online for people to march to the station from Langham Place on Sunday afternoon to mark the anniversary of the incident. However, RTHK found no sign that such a demonstration had materialised.

Instead, people first gathered at the MOKO mall, shouting slogans and playing anti-government songs.

Scores of police officers entered the mall and ordered people to disperse.

They moved journalists along and threw up cordons, as more chanting broke out from various locations in the mall.

Some people wearing black T-shirts were searched by officers.

More than a dozen people were given penalty tickets for allegedly breaching the two-person gathering limit imposed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the force said it noticed that someone had been calling on members of the public to take part in unauthorised assemblies in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui.

It warned that any participants might violate the Public Order Ordinance, and be guilty of offences under the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“For the sake of public health and public safety, police call upon everyone to refrain from taking part in prohibited group gatherings and unauthorised assemblies," the statement said.

"Police do not condone any illegal acts and will take resolute enforcement actions, including issuing summonses and making arrests."

From around 5pm, protesters were gathered in the Langham Place mall.

Police, some wearing helmets and carrying shields, entered the mall and told the crowd to leave, warning they could be taking part in an illegal assembly.

"Some protestors even chanted the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, which may breach the National Security Law," the force said in a new statement.

During last year's police action at Prince Edward MTR Station, the force ejected journalists from the site and delayed the arrival of paramedics sent to treat the injured.

The authorities have since been unable to dispel persistent rumours that officers killed people inside the station, despite there being no evidence to suggest that such an atrocity took place.

______________________________