Sha Tin Councillors To Complain Over Policing

A group of 19 Sha Tin District Councillors plan to file a complaint to the police over what they say were "violent" tactics in the hours after an anti-extradition march in the New Territories town on Sunday.

Violent clashes erupted after police officers in riot gear pursued anti-extradition bill protesters into the popular New Town Plaza shopping mall, blocking them from leaving. MTR trains stopped operating from the adjacent Sha Tin station leaving protesters, and any shoppers who were trapped in the mall, with nowhere to go.

The 19 pan-democratic councillors also plan to put a motion on police tactics to a general meeting of the council next week.

"We will put in the agenda about the police responsibility in the violent conflict in this New Town Plaza," said one of the councillors, Wong Hok-lai of the Sha Tin Community Network.

"So we urge all the Sha Tin residents to come to the meeting and to focus on the abuse of power and the measures used by the police force and their violent beating of the residents, using the shield and using the baton in this plaza."

More than 40 people were arrested and 28 people were admitted to hospital after Sunday's clashes. The police force said 11 of its officers were injured and one had his finger bitten off.

The clashes followed the latest in a series of marches in opposition to the government's extradition bill. The now-suspended proposal would have allowed extradition to any jurisdiction, including the mainland. Marchers have made several demands including the full withdrawal of the bill, a public inquiry and an amnesty for all protesters charged in relation to recent protests.