Hong Kong Protests: 7 Hong Kong Police Officers Arrested in Beating of Protester
Seven police officers were arrested in Hong Kong on Wednesday for last month's beating of a pro-democracy protester.
The unidentified officers were, according to a police statement quoted in the New York Times, arrested on charges of “assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”
On Oct. 15, social worker, Ken Tsang, was kicked and beaten by a number of police officers in an incident that was filmed by a TV crew and spread by social media.
According to the released statement regarding any illegal acts committed by Force members, Hong Kong Police intend to handle the accusations seriously and the "investigation will be conducted in a fair and impartial manner.”
The arrests came only after the police successfully cleared one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping streets of encamped protesters.
Riot police clashed with protesters late into the evening. Among those arrested in the Mong Kok sweep were student leaders Joshua Wong and Lester Shum.
The police cleared barricades and tents that had blocked key roads in the Chinese-controlled city for over two months.
Liu Yuk-lin, a 52-year-old protester wearing a hard hat and holding an umbrella before a line of police in helmets and goggles, seemed to sum up the mood of the crowd with a statement qouted in Reuters: "You can't defeat the protesters' hearts!"
As has been the pattern amid these protests the police action during the day was countered by a surge of demonstrators as night fell.
Hundreds of people could be heard shouting “I want true universal suffrage” in Cantonese, their chants for increased democracy echoing off the tall buildings in the area.
More than 100 people have been arrested in Mong Kok over the past two days.
Hong Kong's Cable TV stated that 4,000 police were involved in Wednesday's operation.
Nearby crowds cheered and clapped as the final protesters were removed from the site on Wednesday.
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