After weeks of being painted as hooligans in official press conferences, protesters doubled down on their efforts to reinforce a counter-narrative in the mainstream media today, holding a press conference featuring, among others, a pregnant woman who found herself caught in a police clearance operation.
Protesters held their first unprecedented briefing on Tuesday, saying they hoped to challenge the government’s “monopoly” on the narrative surrounding the city’s ongoing protest movement by inviting protesters and everyday citizens to give their views at semi-regular press conferences.
Today, they did just that, introducing a pregnant housewife from Sham Shui Po who said she questioned whether she could teach her unborn child to trust the police after seeing their response to a demonstration in her neighborhood on Tuesday night.
The woman said she was “just trying to go home” when she found herself in the middle of a police operation trying to clear crowds who had gathered to protest the arrest of a student leader earlier in the night.
“I felt very helpless,” she added. “If I go out and do a little shopping then it could be harmful to a pregnant woman.”
“I’ve lived in Sham Shui Po for more than 20 years, and now I don’t even have the right to go out; it makes me wonder if it’s wrong to be living in Hong Kong.”
As protests have branched out into residential areas, so too have police crackdowns, with locals complaining of tear gas affecting children and the elderly.
The woman described a chaotic scene in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday night, with protesters attempting to flee police, but said she had been unable to run because of her condition, adding that protesters stepped in to escort her to safety.
She also recalled seeing a teenage protester surrounded by police, adding she was no longer sure she was comfortable telling her child to call 999 in the event of an emergency.
“When there was danger, those who helped me were not the police. Instead, it was the protesters, who are regarded as ‘rioters,’ that helped me.”
Protesters also invited a frontline first aid volunteer to speak at today’s briefing. The man, who gave his surname as Or, described how other volunteers had experienced chest pain and coughing after being exposed to tear gas.
He also recalled a protest on July 30 when a journalist “got sprayed directly in the eyes” with pepper spray, saying first aid had not been enough to ease the pain and the journalist had to be sent to hospital.
Meanwhile, police, who had also pledged to step up their briefings as protests intensify, held their own press conference today, saying they will continue to evaluate planned protests on a case-by-case basis when considering issuing “letters of no objection.”
“There is an escalation of violence over the past few weeks,” Chief Superintendent John Tse warned at the briefing. “Protests and assemblies should be peaceful and not cause disturbances.”
As for police operations affecting local residents, Tse said that police “tried to notify people by using flags and loud speakers, so people… would leave as soon as possible,” adding that police’s use of force so far had been “suitable.”
