A video showing Hong Kong police officers tackling and roughly arresting a 12-year-old girl near a protest crowd has gone viral, drawing much criticism.
According to a report in The Guardian, the video that has been widely shared on social media showed officers of Hong Kong police rounding up some people, including the girl. When she tried to run away, an officer chased her and tackled her to the ground, with several others helping to pin her down.
Th girl’s brother, who tried to help her, is also seen pinned to the ground as police officers tell bystanders to stand back.
According to local media, the girl’s family said that she had gone to buy art supplies and she ran away from the officers because she was scared. Her mother said that she was bruised and scratched after the incident.
The siblings were fined under laws forbidding gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, and their mother said that she would file a complaint and sue.
The police released a statement a few hours after the incident saying that the girl was arrested because she had run “in a suspicious manner” and that officers took her down with “use of minimum force necessary”. In the statement, police “appealed to youngsters to stay away from high-risk protests and avoid putting themselves in danger.”
The incident comes after around 300 people were arrested on Sunday in a protest planned by pro-democracy groups on the day that elections in the city were to be held.
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