Hong Kong police are looking into how a box of tear gas canisters fell out of a police van last night after a Mercedes drove over one and set it off in Central last night.
Ming Pao reports that a box containing four tear gas canisters fell out of a police van, which was heading towards Admiralty on Connaught Road Central.
Soon after, a Mercedes Benz, driven by a female lawyer surnamed Wai, reportedly ran over one of the canisters that had fallen out of the box, setting off a cloud of smoke.
According to HK01, Wai was so frightened that she immediately got out of the car and called the police. Firefighters and officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau (EOD) were dispatched to the scene, near Edinburgh Place, at 9pm last night and cordoned off the area, finding one of the canisters under the woman’s vehicle.
One eyewitness — who was leaving nearby City Hall after watching a play — told the outlet that he was walking on the sidewalk at the time when he noticed the smell of the tear gas, and saw three or four small objects on the road.
“It was only a little bit of smoke, but it was really rough on my nose!” the man said.
HK01 reports that the vehicle from which the canisters fell was a police van from the force’s emergency unit on Hong Kong Island.
Police are still trying to determine how exactly the box of tear gas fell out of the van.
