Organisers and police point fingers over slow progress of July 1 march
Police accused the Civil Human Rights Front of deliberately making slow progress, while the front said the police caused a bottleneck by not opening more lanes for the marchers.
Organisers and police traded barbs over the slow progress of yesterday's march.
Police accused the Civil Human Rights Front of deliberately making slow progress and warned of possible legal action against the protest organiser, while the front said the police caused a bottleneck by not opening more lanes for the marchers.
While the march was largely peaceful, a high-profile student activist claimed he was pushed to the ground by a police officer, and a policeman was injured in scuffles.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung, of student group Scholarism, said he was pushed to the ground after asking why police were setting up barricades in Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay.
"I was asking them for an explanation peacefully and was not attempting to push the barricades over," said Wong, whose group was holding an overnight sit-in in Central. "But an officer ordered me to leave the demonstration zone immediately. He then pushed me in the chest and I fell to the ground."
Causeway Bay was a flashpoint in the largely peaceful march. At one point, protesters spilled through the police cordon and into the westbound carriageway close to Sogo. Only one lane was left for traffic.
