A protester smashes a Legislative Council Complex window at around 1am today. (Photo: Hong Kong In-media via Facebook)
A group of masked protesters broke a glass window on the side of the Legislative Council Complex at around 1am this morning. Video footage from Hong Kong In-media shows protesters using a metal barricade to smash the reinforced glass.
The footage also shows lawmaker and Labour Party vice-chairman Fernando Cheung clearly distraught while attempting to stop the protesters by putting himself in between them and the glass.
“Please, don’t charge the building! Don’t harm the movement!” he desperately and angrily pleaded, before being pulled away by one of the protesters who was part of the group breaking in.
“Why are you charging LegCo? What the hell does it have to do with them? This movement is about universal suffrage!” Cheung cried, as a protester pinned him back.
An angry protester yelled back at him, “Fuck your mother! We’re talking about [Internet] Article 23”.
“Internet Article 23” is a controversial, proposed law on the derivative use of others’ intellectual property for parody purposes. When it was proposed it sparked much debate, with some believing that it would make creators of such derivative works criminally responsible.
“Are we even talking about Article 23 right now?!” asked Cheung rhetorically.
“Yes we are!!” a protester screamed.
“Are they talking about it tomorrow?!” Cheung asked again, sarcastically.
“Yes they are!!” the same protester yelled again.
“Don’t you know how to use the internet? Go look at the [LegCo] agenda! Are you kidding me?!” screamed Cheung.
“They’re really not talking about it tomorrow?” someone can be heard saying.
“Yeah, they’re really not talking about it,” someone else calmly replies.
Internet Article 23 is indeed not being debated today. It is on the LegCo agenda for early 2015, according to lawmaker Charles Mok, who is also an IT advocate.
In a remarkable act of non-violence by someone actively engaging in violent behaviour, the protester seen pinning Cheung against the wall, then hugs him as CHeung tries to calm him down.
One protester can be seen entering the building through the hole before exiting straight away.
Cheung then calmly asks the same protester again to not charge the building, adding, “You’ve injured yourself!” The protester just pats the dejected lawmaker on the shoulder.
Some people can be heard cheering on the protesters.
Before the break-in happened, freelance journalist Ellie Ng tweeted this:
Speaking to Coconuts HK last week, Cheung embraced the lack of leadership in the Umbrella Movement, saying it allowed people to show their best behaviour: “People are very self-disciplined… they engage in all sorts of cooperation to make the Occupy districts more habitable.”
More than three minutes after the protesters started breaking the glass, police showed up. Some journalists on Twitter questioned why it took so long. The police formed a human chain around LegCo.
According to the police, who condemned the violent acts, the protesters repeatedly charged their cordon line, forcing them to use pepper spray after warnings were ignored.
Four men between the ages of 18 and 24 were arrested for criminal damage and for assaulting a police officer. Three policemen were sent to the hospital for their injuries.
This Vine, taken by Hong Kong Hermit, shows the police using pepper spray on protesters charging pushing a barricade against officers.
At one point, the police raised their red warning flag, which says “Stop Charging or We Use Force”.
More scenes from the confrontation between police and protesters:
Tensions flared over the next few hours but seemed to dissipate over the course of the night.
Journalists and protest leaders alike seemed to question the motive and identity of the protesters behind the break-in.
It is believed that the masked protesters were mobilised on HK Golden, an online forum that has been accused several times over the course of the movement of instigating violence or acts not condoned by the movement’s leadership or even by the majority of protesters.
The break-in is an exceptional act of violence in a movement that has been largely peaceful since its start over 50 days ago. No government building windows has been smashed up until last night.
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