29th November 2019 – (Hong Kong) Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations), CHOW Yat-ming, Chief Superintendent KWOK Ka-chuen and Senior Superintendent KONG Wing-cheung of Police Public Relations Branch, Senior Superintendent LI Kwai-wah of Organized Crime and Triad Bureau and Senior Superintendent (Operations) WONG Wai-shun, together with Divisional Officer (Policy) of the Fire Services Department, LAM Kin-kwan gave briefing to the media this afternoon.
Police expressed that a total of 3,989 petrol bombs were found at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and a total of 4,000 petrol bombs were also retrieved from Chinese University of Hong Kong. Together with petrol bombs found from other universities, the total has exceeded 10,000.
Since June, 483 police officers have been injured while carrying out their duties. A total of 5,890 protesters aged between 11-83 years old were arrested for participating in illegal assemblies, riots and possession of offensive weapons. 1,377 protesters were arrested from PolyU of which a total of 810 of them surrendered during siege. 318 of them were under 18 years old.
Police also addressed the incident where police rammed 3 buses at high speed towards civilians in Yau Ma Tei on 18th November resulting in a stampede. Police clarified that the rumour was unfounded. During that night, there were thousands of rioters who barricaded roads and hurled petrol bombs in Yau Ma Tei and Jordan while police retaliated with tear gas rounds. They insisted that no stampede took place. When police were driving the buses, protesters were injured on Pitt Street 45 minutes later in an isolated incident.
On 27th November, police arrested 7 men and 1 woman aged between 12-17 years old in Ma On Shan and they found offensive weapons from two 12 and 13-year-old boys. Police were appalled by the relatively young age of the arrestees and the offences they committed have become more serious.
Meanwhile, the Fire Service Department deployed 94 firemen to search the campus of PolyU and they found many dangerous weapons and chemicals including petrol bombs, LPG tanks, sulfuric acid, compressed oxygen and Sodium hypochlorite solution. The remaining protesters planned to make weapons using dangerous chemicals and they were ‘manufactured’ in an organised production line.