Police attacked after female protester restrained by male officer
Force faces demands for clarity on when male officers can physically restrain women after female protester's breasts touched in struggle
Activists have called on the police to make public their guidelines governing how male officers should physically handle female protesters.
The call from the Civil Human Rights Front followed remarks yesterday by secretary for security Lai Tung-kwok that police could decide the matter on a case by case basis.
The front's vice-convenor, Icarus Wong Ho-yin, called Lai's remarks shocking.
"If the rules are so loose, it can easily lead to abuses of power," Wong said. "It will be very dangerous if Lai agrees that the police can do whatever they like according to their assessment of a situation. Do we accept that the police can exercise their power so freely? The force should make clear its guidelines, if any, on the handling of female protesters by male officers."
Earlier in the day, about a dozen activists from the Defence of Hong Kong Freedom and three pan-democrat legislators - "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, Leung Yiu-chung and Gary Fan Kwok-wai - staged a protest at the government headquarters in Admiralty over the police's use of force in handling students at a recent demonstration. They demanded Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Lai offer an apology to the students.
About two dozen student activists staged a protest at the Caritas Institute of Higher Education in Tseung Kwan O on Thursday, when Leung was there to officiate at a ceremony.
On Leung's departure, the activists occupied a road, blocking Leung's car and demanding that he meet them to discuss universal suffrage. The students were carried away by police after a 20-minute stand-off.
