Police in Hong Kong arrest hundreds on New Year’s Day
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Hong Kong police arrested 400 people on New Year’s Day after what began as a peaceful protest deteriorated into protestors forming human chains and passing bricks to each other, police firing on them with tear gas.
The arrests bring the tally of total incarcerations from the protests, which began in March, to 7,000, as pro-democracy demonstrators continue to call for an independent investigation into heavy-handed police tactics.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam met one of the five demands of protestors in September when she withdrew the Hong Kong extradition bill that would have allowed those accused of a crime in the Special Administrative Region to be tried in communist courts on the mainland.
Organizers said protests on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day peaked at over one million people, while police claimed that number never exceeded 60,000.