Seven Hong Kong police officers have been charged in connection with the beating of a protester during pro-democracy demonstrations in the Chinese-ruled city late last year.
Their accuser Ken Tsang was also served with five charges, including one for assault and four for resisting police at Admiralty during the protests that brought large parts of the Asian financial centre to a standstill.
‘Full democracy’
The protests, just over a year ago, were calling for full democracy for the former Crown colony and demanding that Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, Leung Chun-ying, resign.
However, weeks of protests and disruption failed to persuade Beijing to lift a restriction on who can stand for election as Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2017.
The police officers were charged with one joint count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, while one officer was also charged with one count of common assault, a police spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Four-minute video
The officers will appear in court on Monday as will Mr Tsang, and the decision to try all the cases on the same day has led to accusations that the government is trying to deflect attention away from the attack, which was captured in a four-minute video and broadcast on Hong Kong’s TVB, before subsequently going viral.
“This is obviously due to political pressure,” Mr Tsang told local media. “They are trying to divert attention from the police officers being charged.”
The footage showed Mr Tsang being dragged to a corner in the Tamar Park area by a group of officers, where one officer in a vest appeared to stand guard while the others threw him to the ground and allegedly kicked him repeatedly.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice said in statement that Mr Tsang splashed liquid on police near government headquarters, then resisted arrest.
‘Interest of fairness’
Hong Kong’s secretary for justice, Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, said the decision to charge Mr Tsang and those accused of attacking him on the same day was done in the interest of fairness.
“The whole point, if I may emphasise, is to ensure procedural fairness between Tsang on the one hand, and the seven police officers on the other,” Mr Yuen said, quoted by the South China Morning Post newspaper.
