Neck restraint by Hong Kong police chokes school girl, claim action within protocol
The police have claimed that the officers had used "minimum force"
Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Police has claimed that the neck restraint used on a school girl on June 12 during a pro-democracy protest was within protocol.
According to local media, the police have claimed that the officers had used "minimum force" while making an arrest on the first anniversary of protests against the extradition law.
However, in footage released by the South China Morning Post, a female student was seen being pushed to the ground by two police officers in Causeway Bay. While arresting her, one officer had pressed his knee on her neck and the other officer's knee was seen on her waist.
'I couldn't breathe'
"When they pushed me down, the first feeling was I couldn't breathe, [it was] very painful," the student recounted the incident to the local media.
The Hong Kong Secondary Students' Action Platform - backed by pro-democracy group Demosisto - was quoted as saying that the girl was a 16-year-old student and a member of the group.
She was later sent to a hospital after police asked her if she needed treatment.
This incident comes amid the worldwide protests demanding justice for George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, who was pronounced dead at a Minneapolis, Minnesota hospital shortly after a white police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The Hong Kong citizens had been out on the streets on June 12 as exactly a year ago they had launched protests against the extradition bill proposed by the city's leadership and mainland China. Though the extradition bill was withdrawn by the Hong Kong government but the Chinese authorities have now come up with a national security law.
China has faced criticism over the national security law which is being dubbed in conflict with the Sino-British joint declaration.
The agreement on the question of Hong Kong was signed in Beijing on December 19, 1984, by the Prime Ministers of China and Britain, Zhao Ziyang and Margaret Thatcher. The two governments agreed that China would reassume control of Hong Kong from July 1, 1997.
The main body of the treaty has eight articles and three annexes and it states that China's basic policies regarding Hong Kong "will remain unchanged for 50 years", including the promise that the city would retain a high degree of autonomy.