Lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung was pepper sprayed by a police officer during Hong Kong’s New Year’s Day rally, which saw thousands of protesters marching throughout the city to kick off 2020.
This footage shows an officer in riot gear ripping goggles from Hui’s face and repeatedly spraying him as a crowd looks on.
Hui, a Democratic Party politician and a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, is a regular figure at the city’s protest scene. On Facebook, he reshared the video and wrote that he was uninjured, but added that the problem of “police violence would definitely be investigated.”
Hui was one of several protestors who clashed on January 1 with police, who reportedly fired several rounds of tear gas and used water cannon to disperse crowds .
Earlier, thousands of protesters had gathered in Victoria Park before setting off in a march through the city.
The rally, organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, had initially been approved, but police rescinded permission after a HSBC bank branch was vandalized.
Police said protesters “set barricades, threw bricks, debris and petrol bombs, started street fires and vandalized multiple banks and shops” along the route of the march. Credit: Studio Incendo via Storyful