Four people, including a pro-democracy lawmaker, are lodging a formal complaint against the city’s police force over its use of a dyed water cannon that stained the entrance to the Kowloon Mosque on Sunday.
Phyllis Cheung, Mohan Chugani, Philip Khan, and lawmaker Jeremy Tam appeared outside Police Headquarters in Wan Chai this afternoon to formally file the complaint one day after Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Police Commissioner Stephen Lo visited the mosque to formally apologize in person.
All four were standing outside the Kowloon Mosque at the time of the incident, in which a police water cannon truck stops outside the mosque, takes aim, and fires a stream of water directly at the gates on the otherwise calm stretch of street.
The jet of water contained a dye meant to help identify protesters — which left the entrance to the mosque bright blue — as well as a pepper solution that causes skin irritation on contact. Police had previously issued a statement saying the incident was accidental and “most unfortunate.”
Video circulating online appears to show that the only people outside the mosque at the time were not hardcore frontline protesters, but rather at a handful of worshipers, journalists, and peaceful participants holding placards (ironically urging people not to target the mosque).
Speaking to reporters today, Cheung — who’s the executive director of the minority rights NGO Unison — said that the four went to Police HQ today because the force’s actions on Sunday constituted the misuse of the water cannon that day as there were no protesters present, contrary to police claims.
“We are not protesters, we are not rioters; we are citizens, we are advocates of peace and trying to protect the mosque.”
Chugani — the former chairman of the Indian Association — made an appearance at a rally to support Hong Kong police back in July, but today blasted the force’s action on Sunday as outrageous.
Following reports that Chugani hadn’t accepted Lam’s apology over the incident, Chugani today clarified that he did, in fact, accept it, but that other victims were still owed an apology of their own.
“The reason I’ve come here today is just to set the record straight,” he said, noting that a police press release had said officers fired the cannon because there were protesters outside the mosque.
“They said they were watching for protesters and rioters in front of the mosque, which is not true. I accept the apologies in principle, but I would like them to correct and amend the record. I should not be labelled as a protester or a rioter — I’m just a simple civilian.”
Tam also reiterated that the group in front of the mosque was mainly journalists, and that there were no protesters nearby. “We were just standing on the sidewalk,” he said.
Cheung and Chugani, meanwhile, expressed concerns about the blue dye used in the water cannons, saying that not even the Hospital Authority knows what kind of chemical substance it contained.
Cheung added that there were still questions as to the kind of training police had for the water cannons, while Chugani maintained that Deputy Police Commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung acknowledged to him that “perhaps that particular officer [manning the cannon] was not very experienced.”
“I told Chris that this is totally not acceptable; if you’re going to drive a vehicle like that, the officer inside aiming and shooting should be an extremely [experienced] officer before he can do that. I saw him stop, take aim, and fire, twice.”
Chugani said that Tang told him that he would look into the matter.
