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Hong Kong protesters hold singalong in Tsim Sha Tsui as tensions ease with local ethnic minority communities over Kowloon Mosque police spraying

  • Event comes as ethnic minority communities regroup and ‘move on’ after ‘accidental’ police spraying of Kowloon Mosque on Sunday
  • Mohan Chugani, the former president of the Indian Association of Hong Kong, says he accepted apology from Chief Executive Carrie Lam

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Anti-government protesters during a singalong protest in solidarity with the local ethnic minority community at Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Dickson Lee

Protesters gathered in Tsim Sha Tsui on Wednesday for a singalong in support of local ethnic minority communities, three days after a police water cannon sprayed blue dye on the entrance of nearby Kowloon Mosque.

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The rally was held after members of the Muslim community said they wanted to move on from what the police force called the accidental dousing of the mosque on Sunday. Ethnic minority community leaders and the mosque’s management had called for the community to accept the apologies offered by the government and police officials.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo Wai-chung went to the mosque on Monday to deliver their apologies in person. The force said at a press conference the same day the water cannon was deployed to protect the mosque amid concerns it would be targeted by protesters.
On Tuesday, Mohan Chugani, a former president of the Indian Association of Hong Kong, lodged a complaint asking the police to admit that the small group of people outside the mosque at the time of the spraying were not protesters. Chugani was among those sprayed at the time.

But on Wednesday night, Chugani told Lam at a cocktail reception held by the Indian Chamber of Commerce that her apology was accepted.

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