In Hong Kong, thousands protest with laser lights; police dub it as ‘offensive weapon’

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Baptist University Student Union president Keith Fong Chung-yin was arrested on Tuesday after cops found him with a bag filled with 10 laser pointers from a stall in Sham Shui Po’s Apliu Street. His arrest prompted hundreds to surround the nearby police station in protest, who demanded the student leader must be released at once.

According to the report, “Laser pointers emitting green and blue beams of light have been used widely in recent extradition bill protests, apparently to confuse police officers and deter passers-by from taking photographs that might help identify protesters.”

The police justified the arrests as they classified laser pointers as offensive weapons because of their ability to harm the eyes. (Source: AP)

In response to police’s demonstration, the following night, protesters gathered at the museum’s planetarium and pretended to “set the building and trees outside on fire using the lasers”, The Guardian reported. They chanted “fire, fire, not on fire”, as they pointed dozens of laser beams on the outer wall of the building.

Reportedly, protesters also held up a pro-Beijing newspaper, pointing dozens of laser beams at it in an attempt to set it on fire, without success.

Hong Kong is facing its “most severe situation” since its handover from British rule in 1997.

Hong Kong is facing its “most severe situation” since its handover from British rule in 1997 following weeks of demonstrations and the central government is considering what measures to take next, the head of Beijing’s Cabinet office responsible for the territory said. (Source: AP)

“We would like to make it clear to the very small group of unscrupulous and violent criminals and the dirty forces behind them: Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Yang Guang, spokesperson for the Chinese Cabinet’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office warned. “Don’t ever misjudge the situation and mistake our restraint for weakness,” he added during a press conference in Beijing.

China so far has not visibly intervened in the situation, though it has published a series of strongly-worded editorials in state media condemning “violent radicals” and “foreign forces” allegedly instigating them, Associated Press reported.

Chinese officials pointed to an article in Hong Kong law that allows troops already stationed in the city to help with “public order maintenance” at the Hong Kong government’s request. While Hong Kong authorities have said they don’t anticipate any need to bring in troops or police from China to help impose order.

A string of demonstrations began in June against proposed extradition legislation that would have allowed some suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. While the government has since suspended the bill, protesters have pressed on with broader calls for democratic reforms, an investigation into allegations of police brutality and for the city’s leader to step down.