Pro-Beijing lawmaker suggests that protesters were on drugs during demonstrations

A pro-Beijing lawmaker suggested that radical protesters on the frontlines of anti-government demonstrations were on drugs.

During a Legislative Council meeting Tuesday, legislator Eunice Yung asked Police Commissioner Chris Tang, who was delivering a round-up of crime statistics over the past year, whether there is a relationship between drug-related arrests and riot charges.

“Several reports show that a number of cases, including riot cases, involve drugs. Does the police force have figures showing links between cases related to the social movement [and drug use]?” Yung, a member of the New People’s Party, asked.

Tang said that there have only been one or two instances where individuals arrested on suspected protest-related charges were found to have drugs on them, and that there is no evidence of correlation.

But he added that the “excited” behavior exhibited at protests is as if individuals were high.

“[When] a group of people suddenly charge and hurl petrol bombs, this kind of excitement is similar to being under the influence of drugs,” the police chief said.

According to statistics compiled by the police force, drug seizures of substances including heroin, cocaine and ecstasy soared in 2020. Busts involving methamphetamine surged eight-fold compared to 2019, the figures show.