Ken Tsang (center), a member of a local pro-democracy political party, is carried by plainclothes police officers after a clash between protesters and police near the government headquarters in Hong Kong, Oct. 15, 2014.
Last updated on: October 15, 2014 12:50 PM
Human rights groups are expressing outrage after several Hong Kong police were caught on camera beating an unarmed and handcuffed protester.
The incident happened Wednesday during a police attempt to clear demonstrators blocking an underpass on a key road near government headquarters.
Video footage by local television station TVB showed six plainclothes officers dragging a social worker into the darkened entrance of a building, where they repeatedly kicked and punched him for four minutes.
The territory’s security chief, Lai Tung-kwok, told reporters the officers involved in the incident have been reassigned and that an investigation is ongoing.
In a statement, Amnesty International said the officers must also face prosecution for what it called the “vicious attack against a detained man who posed no threat to the police.”
Amnesty’s Hong Kong director, Mabel Au, called the incident “stomach-churning.”
“Amnesty strongly condemns the police beating up the peaceful protesters. From the TV clips we can see that Ken is just, he was taken away by police, and at that time he was already handcuffed by the plastic strips,” Mabel Au said.
The Asian Human Rights Commission also expressed “shock and sadness” at the incident and called for the officers to be arrested and “brought before the law as early as possible.”
The commission has set up a hotline for protesters who witness police brutality during the crackdown on the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
Hundreds of police Wednesday used pepper spray and batons, and in some cases punched and tackled protesters to the ground during the clashes in the Admiralty district.
A police statement said 45 people were arrested. It added that four officers also received injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, a poked eye, and abrasions.
