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The violence has crossed a new threshold in Hong Kong. After weeks of tough clashes between pro-democracy activists and law enforcement. Yesterday, Tuesday, October 1, the police opened fire with live ammunition. One of the demonstrators, Tsang Chi-kin, was badly hit in the chest. The young man's relatives organized an impromptu press conference at his school today.
From our special correspondent in Hong Kong , Vincent Souriau
At the initiative of Tsang Chi-kin's classmates, they set up a table in the yard of his school. A dozen young men masked, hidden under scarves. Everyone here is afraid of the police, afraid of being recognized, implicated in one way or another. What do they say ? This young man was hit by a close-range shot, no doubt shot but still in serious condition. Despite the many cameras present at the time, despite the images that circulate, the police claim that it is self-defense.
Pure and simple aggression
The young people present this morning talk about outright aggression. And they insist on the rules of policing . The police, they say, had always spoken of a proportionate response. " Where are you when you shoot a real bullet at someone who is 50 cm away from you? You can not explain, forget, or forgive, "they conclude. We must continue to fight. Another proof of the growing gap between youth and security forces.
Stephen Lo, Hong Kong police chief, defended his troops last night at a press conference. According to him, the police had no choice but to protect their colleagues. " On many occasions rioters tried to attack the police, using Molotov cocktails. The security forces were taken to task by very determined individuals armed with metal bars. The verbal warnings of the police were not enough to lower the level of tension, "he said.
The Hong Kong police chief also justified the shooting with live ammunition. " The decision to open fire was therefore legal and reasonable, " he continued, because the police feared for their lives, they were subjected to continuous throwing of bricks and stones preventing them from getting out of danger. The officer who fired on a hostile demonstrator armed with an iron bar only protected his colleagues during one of the most violent and chaotic days in Hong Kong. "
The news of this shooting had spread in minutes on social networks yesterday. So, when the police pretended to charge the crowd, it was panic, thousands of people fled running, afraid of being killed.
" I can not explain it to myself, the police are going crazy. Since the beginning, they are more and more aggressive. Now they are firing live bullets, and there are going to be deaths, "said a protester as she learned.
For weeks, protesters have been calling for an investigation into police violence. " We hit bottom here," said the young man, gas mask around his neck . The cops do not treat us like humans anymore. OK, at home, there are some who throw Molotov cocktails, but always on the buildings, never on the cops themselves. We can insult them, treat them as dogs, but it remains human, we do not want to annihilate them ; what they do, it makes me crazy and it makes everyone angry, it makes us go even further, "he slips.