Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong police say they have sufficient resources to continue to stand up to pro-democracy protesters, even as violence intensifies, easing fears of military intervention from mainland China.

Three commanders of the Hong Kong police, who agreed to receive a handful of foreign journalists, said on Thursday that they were not aware of any Beijing plans to send troops to lend their hands, even if the political crisis was getting worse.

These officers agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, in order to discuss more freely the most acute crisis since the surrender of Hong Kong in 1997. Union revolts against the British colonizer had killed 51 in the years 60.

They also say that they had no discussion about what would happen if Beijing sent troops and that there was no protocol for dealing with such an eventuality.

- Pain to "consider" -

On the other hand, they admitted that any decision to this effect would place the city police in a totally unknown situation. They insisted on the sterility of the subject, the local power being able to handle the crisis.

China this week described the pro-democracy movement's actions as "quasi-terrorists," and state media broadcast footage of soldiers and armored vehicles in Shenzhen on the Hong Kong border.

"I can not think of it (the intervention)," one of these officials said in an office at the Wan Chai police headquarters. "At the operational level, we have enough amplitude, I think we have the determination, the cohesion and the resources of scale to continue."

- "Political problem" -

The police now embody the hated face of the Hong Kong government, while neither Beijing nor the leaders of the semi-autonomous territory are ready for the slightest concession.

The slogan "hak geng" - for "corrupt cops" - is systematically chanted at every demonstration and has even been recently by residents of neighborhoods shaken by night clashes between police and protesters.

Activists, human rights groups, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights accused the police of disproportionate use of force, with tear gas and rubber bullets fired whose images raise every weekend indignation of the public.

However, these police officers persist in ensuring that the force deployed is proportionate to the actions of demonstrators armed with slingshots, Molotov cocktails and bricks. They are furthermore convinced to retain the support of the "silent majority" of Hong Kongers.

Brushing the picture of the forces of order challenged by the wild demonstrations, they also hinted at their frustration with the intransigence of Beijing and Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, refusing any concession to the pro-democracy movement.

"The problem is political, and a political problem requires political resolution," said one of them.

On the other hand, the attacks and the insults undergone by the police only reinforce their determination, they claim, especially as their body counts important human reserves.

Of the 28,000 police men and women, about 3,000 are engaged in direct control of the protests. Hundreds of Reservists can intervene as part of a "scaling up" plan if protests escalate.

"Our mobilization has not yet reached its full capacity, far from it," insisted a commander on the ground.

The pro-democracy movement, which saw millions of people taking to the streets of Hong Kong, left in early June the rejection of a Hong Kong bill allowing extradition to China.

It has since considerably expanded its demands to denounce the decline of freedoms and interference of China.

Since the beginning of the demonstrations in early June, the police have made more than 700 arrests.

© 2019 AFP