Hong Kong: Protesters pushing region towards 'manmade disaster' - HK Police

M/S Police arriving at press briefing, Hong Kong
SOT, John Tse Chun-chung, Chief Superintendent of Hong Kong Police Public Relations Branch: "Enter the sixteenth week of the protest. Over the weekend rioters went on a rampage across the city. Starting fires on the street, hurling petrol bombs, violently attacking innocent people and inflicting mass property destruction. Some even desecrated national flags and attempted to snatch an officer's gun. All these acts will only push Hong Kong to the verge of a man-made disaster. On Saturday, a large number of radical protesters deviated from the approved route of public procession and wreaked in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long districts. Apart from building barricades on main roads to paralyse traffic, rioters smash up MTR [Mass Transit Railway] facilities and destroy various public properties. What's worse, some even threw objects into the railway and misused the emergency facilities. Their action did hamper the safety of the entire MTR system. We make this very clear, whatever ideals they claim they are fighting for do not justify the use of violence."
M/S Journalists at press briefing *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Vasco Williams, Acting Senior Superintendent for the New Northern Territories: "There are videos which show the entire incident where no assault resulted. Now, I've seen that video myself. Now I've seen other videos of people that have doctored the video to show police kicking people. The genuine online feed showed that there was no such assault. Now there is a video online that shows that no assault occurred. We will ask the maker of the video you're referring to, to come forward and show us the original copy of that video because any incident of police violence will be investigated."
M/S Journalists at press briefing *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Vasco Williams, Acting Senior Superintendent for the New Northern Territories: "The police will try to locate the makers of these videos to verify the authenticity of both videos, so we request the makers of the video to come forward to assist our enquiries."
M/S Journalists asking question at press briefing *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Vasco Williams, Acting Senior Superintendent for the New Northern Territories: "Now what occurred was, when the first two [protesters], as I mentioned before, were intercepted for enquiries, they were brought into the alley. When they were brought into the alley, a check-line was formed at the entrance of the alleyway. Protesters, radical protesters, charged that protest line. During that protest, those radical protesters, one of them; the man who was subsequently arrested for assaulting police, had pushed an officer several times, knocked him to the ground and when the arrest was declared, he bit the officer on the right hand. He was then brought into the alleyway. That is why he was arrested, not for shouting slogans. He was arrested because he assaulted a police officer."
W/S Road outside Hong Kong police building
W/S Exterior of Hong Kong police building
W/S Hong Kong police building
SCRIPT
The Chief Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Public Relations Branch John Tse Chun-chung emphasised that the acts of protesters "will only push Hong Kong to the verge of a man-made disaster," during a press briefing in Hong Kong on Monday.
"Over the weekend rioters went on a rampage across the city. Starting fires on the street, hurling petrol bombs, violently attacking innocent people and inflicting mass property destruction. Some even desecrated national flags and attempted to snatch an officer's gun. All these acts will only push Hong Kong to the verge of a manmade disaster," Chun-chung said at the press briefing.
Acting Senior Superintendent for the New Northern Territories Vasco Williams was also at the press briefing and responded to press enquiries regarding an online video, which protesters claim shows Hong Kong police assaulting a protester.
"There are videos which show the entire incident where no assault resulted Now, I've seen that video myself. Now, I've seen other videos of people that have doctored the video to show police kicking people. The genuine online feed showed that there was no such assault. Now there is a video that shows that no assault occurred. We will ask the maker of the video you're referring to, to come forward and show us the original copy of that video," Williams said.
"Any incident of police violence will be investigated," he added.
Protests have been taking place in Hong Kong since the end of March when the Hong Kong legislature proposed a bill, which would allow the extradition of the city's residents to mainland China. Demonstrators are rallying around a variety of grievances including calls for an an investigation into acts of police violence during the protests as well as for the resignation of the Chief Executive Carrie Lam's resignation, who initially put forward the bill.