Two teenagers were injured in falls, one in Mong Kok and one in Yuen Long, as protesters and police returned to the streets over the Christmas holiday.
A 19-year-old boy, surnamed Chow, fell from from one level of Yuen Long’s Yoho Mall to the ground floor in an apparent attempt to evade police after a “sing with you” rally that was interrupted by authorities on Christmas.
Headline Daily reports that the rally started at around 7pm, with police showing up about an hour later and warning protesters to halt their illegal assembly, stopping and searching people at the scene and making arrests.
In one video from the mall, Chow can be seen running past one officer making an arrest on what appears to be the second floor of the mall, and bowling over another. As a third officer gives chase, Chow disappears behind a column as a chorus of screams rings out from terrified mall-goers.
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When the person shooting the video makes it to the glass barrier behind the column at the edge of the balcony, an injured Chow can be seen on the floor below, several meters down, barely moving.
Another photo captures the precise moment he fell from the glass barrier.
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A witness to the event, Yuen Long district councillor Cheung Sau Yin, said she saw Chow fall from the second floor, though he was conscious when he was being sent to the hospital.
Chow remains in hospital with a fracture to his right wrist and fractures to his spine, his sister told Apple Daily. She added that police guarding and monitoring her brother’s room had made it difficult for her to speak with him about what happened, but he has contacted a lawyer.
Similarly, another fall happened after midnight on Christmas Day in Mong Kok when a 16-year-old boy, surnamed Sin, fell from the rooftop of a restaurant at the junction of Cheung Sha Street and Portland Street.
In a now-viral video, Sin can be seen hanging onto the edge of the roof while a flashing light — later revealed to belong to police — shines on him, before suddenly falling several meters to the pavement.
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According to RTHK, police had gone into the restaurant in pursuit of “suspicious people,” and had made several arrests inside before Sin fell.
The force insisted, however, that it had used any force on Sin to cause him to fall, and added that they had allowed paramedics to treat him before taking him to hospital.
The Information Services Department has since stated that the boy is in stable condition.
The falls were reminiscent of the case Chow Tsz-lok, who suffered a brain injury in a fall inside a parking garage as police carried out a clearance operation nearby. Chow died in hospital days later, prompting a massive outpouring of anger, and a period of some of the most violent clashes Hong Kong has seen over the course of its months-long protest movement.
