Interactions Between Students and Police Have Become More Confrontational
Hong Kong police used pepper spray and batons on pro-democracy protesters heeding a rally call by student leaders. More than 50 people were arrested. The WSJ’s Ramy Inocencio reports.
HONG KONG—The city’s pro-democracy protests are turning into an increasingly bitter and violent standoff between police and students, with the Hong Kong government playing almost no role in the dispute.
On Monday, police using batons and pepper spray cleared away studentswho had seized control of a street by the city’s government headquarters. After routing the protesters, several police officers stood on a bridge overlooking the main protest site, tore down banners, mocked the students and in one case, gave them the finger.
Protesters have been increasingly confrontational with police as well. On Sunday, student leaders called on their followers to gather by government headquarters, though they didn’t explicitly call for them to seize more territory. Since authorities cleared a second protest site last week, protesters have kept up the pressure, forcing police to maintain a presence there to avoid another occupation.
The number of people injured and arrested has risen over the past week as police used harsher tactics and protesters used helmets and makeshift shields to hold off the baton-wielding officers. Police said more than 50 people were arrested overnight, bringing the total to more than 200 in the past week. Police said 11 police officers were injured and the city’s hospital authority said 40 protesters were injured.
Police fought back student protesters with batons and pepper spray as clashes flared again in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy Legislative Council member Lee Cheuk Yan warns the tactics student groups are using could lead to more violence.
With the city government standing on the sidelines, the driving force behind the clearance of the protest sites has been court injunctions filed by businesses like taxi and bus operators. Police are deemed to be enforcing the court orders.
On Monday, the city’s High Court granted an injunction to clear the main and by far largest protest site. That site, by government headquarters in Admiralty, is where the most recent confrontation occurred. Clearing it would effectively mean ending the protests and would likely trigger serious confrontations.
Last week, while police and students fought it out on the street, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying traveled to South Korea to study that country’s creative industries. On Monday, he repeated his position that the decision by Beijing that candidates for chief executive would have to be vetted before they could run for office wouldn't be changed.
“Protesters should resort to legal approaches to express their demand,” Mr. Leung said at a news conference Monday.
“If the government didn’t close the door for talks with us there would have been no bloodshed last night,” said Joshua Wong the leader of student protest group Scholarism, who was arrested during protests last week.
Mr. Leung also warned students that getting arrested could hurt their futures. “If the court convicted these young students, they would have criminal records and affect their opportunities to study aboard in future,” Mr. Leung said. “It would also affect their opportunities to work overseas or in the mainland.”
There has been just one negotiating session between the Hong Kong government and student leaders, and the government has refused further talks. Instead, officials have hoped that public opinion would turn against the occupation. While the public has grown unhappy with the blocked streets, opinion polls show that residents also have a dismal view of the government.
“The root cause of the protests is a political impasse,” said Yeung Chee Kong, a professor at School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “If it’s not sorted out, and the government still hopes to do a crackdown by the police, it won’t be an ultimate solution as protesters will resort to other demonstrations.”
Policemen clear umbrellas from a road following clashes with pro-democracy protesters outside Hong Kong's government headquarters on Dec. 1. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Michael DeGolyer, a professor of government at Hong Kong Baptist University, said it is unclear what the government’s silence means. “Hard to say whether the government is trying to de-escalate the situation by going low profile or if it is trying to provoke the students by so obviously not taking them seriously,” he said. The protesters appear to be getting angry at the idea of being ignored, he said.
Some police officers have said protesters are trying to provoke them and are angry that the force has been made to look bad. Last week, just as police were clearing a protest site,seven police officers were charged in the videotaped beating of a handcuffed protester in an earlier confrontation. And one officer was removed from handling the protests after he was videotaped last week hitting a person in the back who was fleeing the area. Students have said police have grown more violent and verbally abusive.
Besides his trip to Korea, Mr. Leung spent several days last month in mainland China, including a visit to Beijing for the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Mr. Leung has no plans to travel in the near future. Because of the protests outside his office Monday, he was forced to work from home in the morning.
—Mia Lamar and Isabella Steger contributed to this article.
