Following a bold break-in at a government office, Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and their backers are bracing for possible police mobilization against their camps.
During the wee hours Wednesday in Admiralty, the largest of the three protest sites, a group of radical protesters used metal barricades and concrete slabs to break two glass doors adjoining Hong Kong’s legislative chamber. Police responded with batons and pepper spray. At least 11 people have been arrested.
The attack punctured what had been a remarkably peaceful campaign free of vandalism. It was condemned by groups leading the nearly nine-week Occupy movement.
Just before the break-in, a recent poll already showed declining support for the protests. As the likelihood rises of increasingly frustrated protesters facing off against a police force weary of endlessly monitoring the camps, the stage could be set for more aggression.
Multiple reports indicate that Mongkok, the working-class district where clashes have been intense and resulted in dozens of injuries to police, protesters, "anti-Occupy" elements and even passersby, will be the next site where injunctions will be carried out, as early as next week.
The first injunction-ordered clearance of an occupied area took place Tuesday morning in a confined strip of Admiralty beside a privately-owned commercial building. As protesters stood watch, bailiffs removed obstructions without incident or help from police, who were present at the scene.
Tensions could re-ignite if police exceed the "minimum force" they have repeatedly claimed to have exercised throughout the street demonstrations. To complicate matters, the recent break-in grants government leaders cover to stay disengaged from dialogue with pro-democracy leaders and allege that protesters are violent.
Meanwhile, police consistently describe the Mongkok site as dangerous. Police spokesman Steve Hui memorably repeated an uncorroborated claim that children there were being used as human shields.
An American anthropologist who studies police in greater China told me the Hong Kong police have “obviously been in a difficult position, both politically and in the streets.” The anthropologist, who has lived extensively in Asia, explained that, while most Hong Kong police have acted professionally, the video that surfaced October 15 in which seven plainclothes officers beat Ken Tsang, a handcuffed subject in custody, has grave implications.
If incidents of excessive force are not handled swiftly and transparently, then the reputation of Hong Kong’s police will seriously worsen and make the task of maintaining civic order tougher. “How that case is decided, and the degree of independent scrutiny allowed into the dozens of other allegations of excessive uses of force during this period, will define the level of public trust the Hong Kong police enjoy for the foreseeable future,” the anthropologist said.
What level of force the police deploy in their next confrontation with protesters is an open question. Arthur, a 20-something first aid volunteer at Admiralty, expressed an anxiety shared by many when he told me last night, “What bothers us the most is that we don't know what will happen or when, but we know something is coming.”
