Three men were arrested on suspicion of possessing dangerous weapons yesterday after they allegedly attacked pro-democracy protesters with metal rods during an unruly demonstration in Tsuen Wan.
At around 5:30pm yesterday, several blue-clad men picked a fight with protesters on Chung On Street. However, after soon finding themselves outmatched, they ran to a taxi waiting nearby and armed themselves with metal poles taken from the taxi’s trunk, HK01 reports.
They then proceeded to indiscriminately attack people on the street with the poles.
https://twitter.com/Fight4HongKong/status/1165591992585224192
The blue-clad men then returned the taxi and attempted to drive away, but were intercepted near Tai Ho Road by protesters, who stopped the taxi and broke its rear window. In the ensuing fracas, the two passengers were injured.
When the police arrived, they drove the taxi away but did not arrest the attackers on the scene. Police later confirmed to HK01 that the two passengers and the taxi’s driver were arrested on suspicion of possession of dangerous weapons, namely the 27 metal poles that were found in the vehicle’s trunk.
Footage circulating online also shows an officer retrieving what appeared to be a police riot police shield from the back seat of the taxi. It remained unclear where the shield came from, but its presence was enough to spark online speculation that the assailants were somehow in league with police, or that the car was “a police vehicle disguised as a taxi.”
Yesterday’s clashes in Tsuen Wan were arguably some of the most intense yet in Hong Kong’s months-long protest movement, with police deploying for the first time specialized trucks fitted with high-pressure water cannons, and one officer even firing a warning shot with his service revolver after several policemen were overrun by violent protesters.
