Widely circulated video of a Hong Kong police officer appearing to deliberately “break” the arm of a first aid volunteer during the National Day protests on Oct. 1 has drawn condemnation online, though similar videos from past protests — and even a report from Amnesty International — seem to suggest it may be something of a trend.
The video, published by the Hong Kong City University Editorial Board, shows the volunteer lying facedown on the pavement during Tuesday’s chaotic National Day protests as a member of the police force’s elite “raptor” squad approaches him from behind. The officer grabs the man’s left arm, raises it by the wrist and, using his free hand, appears to severely hyperextend the volunteer’s elbow with a forceful shove before bending the arm behind the man’s back and zip-tying his hands.
While the events leading up to the incident — and indeed whether the man’s arm was actually injured, or how badly — remained unclear, the first aider was not resisting at the time the video was taken.
First Aider was violently arrested by police officers and forced to suppress the ground, his left arm was tilted back by riot police.#hongkongprotest #chinazi #prayforhk #teargas #HumanRights #cityu #protest #FreedomHongKong #StandwithHK #antielab #反送中 #riotpolice #催淚彈 pic.twitter.com/9yvmGTrav9
— Editorial Board CityU (@cityusuedb) October 1, 2019
In the tweet, the Editorial Board described the volunteer as being “violently arrested by police officers and forced to suppress the ground, [and] his left arm was tilted back by riot police.”
The footage also found its way into a montage of alleged instances of excessive force played by pan-democratic lawmakers at press conference this afternoon.
Netizens were swift to condemn the action, with one accusing the police of having “gone amok violently oppressing protestors on behalf of CCP.”
Another called the action “wicked,” while others cited the video in calling on foreign politicians like US Senator Marco Rubio and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to take legislative action against Hong Kong.
Despite the seemingly shocking nature of the footage, it’s actually not the first time similar moves have been employed.
One video published last month shows an officer, also from the raptor squad, appearing to deliberately break a protester’s wrist.
Hong Kong Police break his arm#hkpolicebrutality#HongKongProtesters#StandWithHongKong #followbackhongkong pic.twitter.com/lPr2051oNQ
— if…. (@Hail_Paimon) September 3, 2019
An image from a protest in July appears to show a riot cop appearing to use a similar grip on the elbow of a social worker who was reportedly attending the protest to mediate between police and demonstrators.
https://twitter.com/jackychanmh/status/1155132096689479682
A news report from last month also focused on a man who claimed police broke his arm during an arrest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXRAKebYWQ0&feature=youtu.be
Finally, a September report from Amnesty International that criticized police’s heavy-handed response to protests makes multiple mentions of arm injuries sustained during arrests, including one in which the victim was left zip-tied for several hours before being taken for treatment.
“It was extremely painful,” the man told Amnesty. “I told them I had broken my arm, but they didn’t bother.”
Police didn’t respond to Coconuts HK’s questions regarding yesterday’s incident and those in the past.
