Interview with a witness of mass arrest in Telford Plaza in 28 Dec

First of all, what I saw was incomplete and limited.

I saw some young people, about 10 to 20 of them, marching across the shopping centre (Telford Plaza) very peacefully, chanting slogans occasionally. When they reached this area, they stopped as they found themselves surrounded by plainclothes cops. All of a sudden, the plainclothes cop dashed towards them from Exit C of the Kowloon Bay Station as well as from the Meiji Japanese Restaurant and the shop named Make Up For Ever beside us. These kids (referring to the young protesters) were quickly subdued to the ground. Some passersby tried to save them but (A passerby: They rushed towards the crowds again!). 

Later, more reinforcements consisting of plainclothes cops arrived, pushing the cordon lines forward. More reinforcements consisting of both riot police and the plainclothes, arrived in numbers of around 60. They subdued these peaceful citizens to the ground and hit them mercilessly. They continued to push the cordon lines forward, forcing everyone to fall back, both onlookers and journalists alike. Meanwhile, as I am also a citizen, I was unable to see what happened next. What I saw is that outside the Pandora store, there were lots of tissue and the ground was covered with blood. Then many citizens were taken away. I can’t tell you how many of them – I was simply too far from the cordon lines!

Q: What do you think about the police operation, what the police did just now?

A: I would ask the police to look from another perspective. If these kids or these shoppers are their family members, how would they feel? Don’t they always ask us to do this? “Don’t only take videos of the police! Also, take some videos of the protesters! Take some videos of the citizens! Take some videos of the rioters!” Perhaps I will put that question back to them! Cops, don’t always ask us! We have been telling them the same thing for months now. Let’s see how they will answer.