A Canadian reporter’s experience with HK police. Enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/simon.durrant/posts/10154732356850032?fref=nf
What little respect i had for the police during these protests disappeared today in Mongkok when having been given permission by three different police to take photos. A female PTU inspector started harassing me, even when a sergeant said he knew bc magazine and the inspector had seen the bc website on her own phone and all the existing pictures including those taken at CY's press conference in Government House - police approved media entry only! She still refused to accept i was media and accused me of faking my business card. She and several of her colleagues restrained me for over an hour by surrounding at a distance of less than one foot and threatening me with arrest for assaulting a police officer if i moved an inch. The farce became even more surreal when the Superintendent in Charge said that my HK id card did not prove who i was and that "there could be many Simon Durrants in HK".
To add to the fun a woman waving a blue ribbon drawn on a piece of paper kept shouting "go home white pig". And the police said it's her right of freedom of speech to say this. Funny at the police press conference they keep complaining about verbal insults and many police enjoy using a baton to deny freedom of speech to the protestors.
There was a real nastiness in large numbers of the police in Mong Kok tonight, especially in the ptu, plainclothes and the white shirted officers - a desire for violence and a love of threats and intimidation. Several of the white shirts officers surrounding were literally itching for an excuse to punch me and arrest me. Making lots of threats and giving me warnings as i took their photos and badge numbers.
