Hong Kong police clear sites on Sunday night as radical protesters staged another illegal protest at Tsim Sha Tsui. (Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT)
Hong Kong police said on Monday there's no evidence showing that the police shot a black-clad female protester in the eye, vowing to further investigate the incident.
As black-clad protesters gathered in eye patches at the Hong Kong airport Monday afternoon to express their fury at police for allegedly shooting a female protester in the eye the day before, an anonymous source told the Global Times reporter that such claims could form part of a distorted narrative on police brutality by anti-government protesters.
A woman dressed in black was reportedly shot in the eye near Tsim Sha Tsui during an illegal protest on Sunday and footage of her bleeding has been circulated widely on international social media.
The South Morning China Post reported the girl was reportedly hit by a beanbag round in Tsim Sha Tsui and a doctor who saw her said she could lose her right eye.
There is no evidence showing that the cause of this incident was related to the police, Tang Ping-keung, deputy commissioner of Hong Kong police said at a Monday conference.
Police will continue investigating, Tang said, noting that "rioters have upgraded their violence."
It was impossible for police to fire at the woman as it was "technically impossible for the police to shoot her in the eye," a former senior police officer, who preferred not to be named, told the Global Times on Monday.
"The location of the injured person is not within the scope of the police shooting," a source close to the matter told the Global Times on Monday.
"Unless the bullet turned round then the bullet could not injure the female."
If she were hit by a beanbag, her face must have burns caused by gunpowder, he said.
"If it were beanbag, I believe she would have been dead."
The wound is likely to be caused by a hard object, he asserted.
