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In a sign of potentially escalating violence, a police officer fired off a gun and a water cannon was used against protesters for the first time, during protests on August 25th.
“According to my understanding, just now a gunshot was fired by a colleague,” Superintendent Leung Kwok Win told the press. “My initial understanding was that it was a uniformed policeman who fired his gun.”
In a statement, police said protesters’ actions were “outrageous and have overstepped the bottom line of a civilized society,” and added that they “will take relentless enforcement action to bring the persons involved to justice.”
Speaking to reporters after the incident, the police said an officer had fired into the air because he felt his life was threatened.
According to MSM reports, several police officers had guns and they aimed at protesters, and whether they were using live rounds or not remains unknown. But this marked the first time a gunshot was heard, and a water cannon was deployed.
Water cannon deployed toward protesters. pic.twitter.com/k3QgJVacuu
— Nathan VanderKlippe (@nvanderklippe) August 25, 2019
Footage of the water cannon truck can be seen here:
Tear gas was also used once more, in response to “pro-democracy” protesters throwing petrol bombs at police officers.
Hong Kong police said 36 people had been arrested as a result of August 25th’s protests, the youngest being at the age of 12.
Over the August 17-18th weekend, protests were completely peaceful, with no clashes with authorities. But the “truce” came to an end.
Maria Tam Wai-chu, deputy director of the Hong Kong SAR Basic Law Committee, told a seminar in southern China that any severe civil unrest may prompt a call for help from the People’s Liberation Army.
“The soldiers stationed in Hong Kong are not straw men meant to just stay in the garrison, they are an important part of the ‘one country, two systems’.”
There was a smaller, peaceful rally, actually in support of the police, which called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis and an end to violence.
Regardless, according to MSM reports, such as from the BBC, the “hardline” protesters who go equipped with petrol bombs, metal rods and bricks ready to attack police were actually called “corrupt police” and “piles of rubbish.” Essentially, MSM report that the violent protesters are simply a minority, and one organized by the authorities to construct a false narrative of the protesters.
At the same time, China maintains that the protesters are mostly organized due to foreign interference and primarily by the US.
Whether the developments of August 24th and 25th will led to a more violent escalation in the following days and a prompting of Hong Kong authorities to ask Mainland China for help remains to be seen.
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