Police beating stirs outrage in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's police force said Wednesday it will investigate after officers were caught on video kicking a handcuffed protester amid the most violent clashes since street demonstrations for greater democracy began more than two weeks ago.

Anger over the aggressive police tactics exploded after local TV showed a group of plainclothes police officers taking a protester around a dark corner and kicking him repeatedly on the ground. It was unclear what provoked the attack, though local television station Now TV showed him splashing water on officers beforehand.

Ken Tsang, the protester the police allegedly attacked, said officers assaulted him while he was "detained and defenseless," and that he was attacked again in the police station afterward. Tsang, a member of a pro-democracy political party, lifted his shirt to show reporters injuries to his torso and said he is considering legal action against police.

"Hong Kong police have gone insane today, carrying out their own punishment in private," said pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan. "Hong Kong's values and its rule of law really have been completely destroyed by police chiefs."

Police spokesman Steve Hui said seven officers who were involved have been temporarily reassigned and that authorities will carry out an impartial investigation. Police arrested 45 demonstrators during the clashes, and said five officers were injured.

Hundreds of riot police, some wielding batons, pepper spray and shields, knocked activists to the ground and dragged dozens away as they moved in to clear them from an underpass next to the government's headquarters early Wednesday.

After initial attempts to disperse protesters with tear gas and pepper spray backfired two weeks ago, police have adopted a strategy of gradually chipping away at the three protest zones by removing barricades from the edges of the occupied areas in the early morning, when the crowd numbers are usually lowest.

But Wednesday's raid was the most violent so far, with police charging the protesters and dragging them away. One officer ripped a facemask off an activist before spraying him with pepper spray, according to a video from the South China Morning Post newspaper.

"Some of us were sleeping in the park when more than a hundred of them ran toward us with torches as if they're trying to blind us temporarily. We were not prepared for how aggressive they were," said protester Simon Lam, 22.

There were no signs that the central government was planning to become directly involved in suppressing the demonstrations, which have marshalled opposition to plans for a pro-Beijing committee to screen candidates in Hong Kong's first election to choose the city's chief executive in 2017.

The protesters also want the current leader, the unpopular Leung Chun-ying, to resign.

Leung, who has described the protests as being "out of control," told reporters that officials are willing to talk to protesters, but reiterated that Beijing will not drop the election restrictions it imposed. He canceled a leader's questions session at the Legislative Council on Thursday, citing security risks.

Beijing, meanwhile, issued its harshest condemnations yet of the protests, calling them illegal, bad for business and against Hong Kong's best interests. The central government has become increasingly impatient with the demonstrations, the biggest challenge its authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997.

A front-page editorial Wednesday in the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, condemned the protests and said "they are doomed to fail."

"Facts and history tell us that radical and illegal acts that got their way only result in more severe illegal activities, exacerbating disorder and turmoil," the commentary said. "Stability is bliss, and turmoil brings havoc."

Hong Kong's most prominent tycoon, 86-year-old Li Ka-shing, on Wednesday urged protesters who have occupied parts of the city since late last month to go home, after police mounted their toughest action against the democracy activists in more than a week.

Li, Asia's richest man, had made no public comment on the protests but broke his silence to say if Hong Kong's rule of law broke down it would be the city's "greatest sorrow.”

Wire services