By ALAN WONG OCT. 15, 2015
Ken Tsang talked to reporters in the spot where he said he was beaten by police officers during pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong last year. Credit Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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HONG KONG — Seven police officers in Hong Kong were charged with assault on Thursday in the beating of a protester during pro-democracy demonstrations last year.
The officers are accused of beating Ken Tsang, a participant in protests that called for electoral changes in the city, for about four minutes. The predawn incident was caught on video.
The authorities also charged Mr. Tsang with assaulting and resisting the police, he told reporters outside Central Police Station after he heard the charges there on Thursday afternoon.
A police spokeswoman said that the officers were charged with one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. One of them was also charged with common assault, she said. The officers are scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
The Hong Kong police had said last year that Mr. Tsang “threw a liquid of unknown nature” at police officers during the clash with the protesters, who had tried to occupy a road outside government headquarters on Oct. 15, 2014, to escalate pressure on the authorities.
“When our officers came to intercept him, the complainant put up resistance,” Senior Superintendent Kong Man-keung said at a news conference last October.
The prosecution of the officers is the first case against the police over the use of force against the protesters, who were trying to overturn election rules proposed by the Chinese government. The Hong Kong authorities had been under pressure to prosecute the officers after the main local television network, TVB, broadcast footage of the incident, drawing sympathetic crowds to what was at times a flagging, and eventually unsuccessful, political campaign.
In a recent interview, Mr. Tsang said he was “angry and frustrated” that the Hong Kong authorities had yet to prosecute any of the officers who were accused of beating him, even though they had brought charges against other protesters. Joshua Wong and Alex Chow, student leaders of the pro-democracy demonstrations, were charged in August with unlawful assembly. Mr. Tsang declined to comment on whether he had thrown liquid in the clash last year.
The Hong Kong government has denied accusations of selective prosecution. On Tuesday, the secretary for justice, Rimsky Yuen, told reporters that there was “absolutely no political consideration” in the case against the officers.
“I think it’s not fair to say it has taken a long time because although the incident has taken place about a year ago, but as you would recall, the police had a lot to handle during the Occupy movement,” he said.
The protests, also known as the Umbrella Movement, erupted across the city in September last year after the Chinese legislature proposed that all candidates for Hong Kong’s top job, the chief executive, must be chosen by a committee loyal to the Communist Party before a popular election.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was promised a high degree of autonomy and civil liberties when it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
In June, Hong Kong’s legislature rejected Beijing’s plan for the first popular election, along with the restrictions on candidates. The vote left the old system in place, in which a 1,200-member committee picks the chief executive.
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