Police say they found paint, gloves, masks and one extendable baton on the teens
Hong Kong plain-clothes police officers arrested at least three secondary school students in To Kwa Wan.Plain-clothes police officers arrested four secondary students in To Kwa Wan on Wednesday morning for disorderly conduct and criminal damage. Police said the teens were carrying paint, gloves, and masks and one extendable baton.
Those arrested included three 14-year-old boys, and one 14-year-old girl. One of the boys was also charge with possession of an offensive weapon for the extendable baton. A 47-year-old man was also detained when he attempted to interfere with the arrests of the teens. He was charged with one count of assaulting police and one of obstructing police duties.
At around 7am, the secondary students were subdued and arrested by masked, black-clad officers near Ma Tau Wai Road and Farm Road. The plain-clothes officers had expandable batons and walkie talkies in their hands. Pictures show that some of them were not displaying their police warrant cards in any identifiable place on their bodies.
In one of the photos posted on Facebook, a female officer appeared to be sitting on the shoulders of a teenage girl, while another officer had a pair of handcuffs in her hand. A video taken in the same area showed a male secondary student in school uniform being brought to a waiting police van.
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Some of the arrested teenagers have been identified as students of Tang King Po School in the district. The school told Young Post they were on the process of handling the matter at the moment, but did not provide any further information.
In a briefing to media given later in the afternoon, Hung Hom Division Divisional Commander Alan Chung said they had received reports of road blockages and spray painting of buses in the same place the previous day.
Chung said minimum force was used to subdue the girl as she was resisting arrested. He added that the officers were in plain clothes, but had declared they were police during the operation and their identities should have been clear.
"The source of the baton is one of the directions of our investigation. Where he bought it or if someone gave it to him," he added.