- Title: Hong Kong police say tear gas used on protesters due to violence
- Date: 16th August 2019
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (AUGUST 16, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS COMMANDER OF KOWLOON CITY DISTRICT, YEUNG MAN-PUN (LEFT), SEATED WITH COMMANDER OF CENTRAL DISTRICT, TSE MING-YEUNG CAMERAMEN EMBLEM OF HONG KONG POLICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLICE COMMANDER OF KOWLOON CITY DISTRICT, YEUNG MAN-PUN, SAYING: "But I can tell you, we are confident that we have the capability to maintain law and order in Hong Kong. In general, from my personal contact with my frontline troops, they are motivated. We still maintain very high morale and we love our place and we want to contribute." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) POLICE COMMANDER OF KOWLOON CITY DISTRICT, YEUNG MAN-PUN, SAYING: "In fact, we have always put the public's safety first, in recent occasions. We have mentioned why we opposed the marches, it was because we have seen that it turned violent all the time. We hope that the public will not see the result and ignore the reason. The police fired the tears, it was not the police who make the initiative to use tear gas. If there were no disturbances from the demonstrators, and there were no demonstrators who attacked the police, if there were no one being destructive, the tear gas and tougher measures would not have been used. I hope that everyone can understand the cause and effect clearly." JOURNALISTS YEUNG LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 30th August 2019 11:57
- Keywords: Hong Kong police protest police brutality one country two system China
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001ASGUF5Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hong Kong police on Friday (August 16) said the use of "tear gas and tougher measures" in recent weeks was due to level of violence from demonstrators, and added that they were confident in their "capability to maintain law and order".
The protests began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China. They have since swelled into wider calls for democracy in the city, which is a special administrative region of China.
More mass demonstrations are expected through this weekend (August 17-18), with neither the protesters nor the government showing any signs of giving ground.
Police Commander of Kowloon City District, Yeung Man-Pun, told media on Friday that recent bans on protest gatherings were because past protesters have turned violent. He added that the police force had "very high morale" and loved Hong Kong.
(Production: Xihao Jiang, Travis Teo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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