The 12-year-old boy was shopping with his older brother. She was then pursued and attacked by riot police.

On Sunday, the Chinese in Hong Kong should have gone to the polls. Instead, nearly 300 protesters were arrested on the streets.

On a busy street, a girl wearing a face mask is detained by police officers wearing a helmet, baton and protective shield. She freaks out and starts running, but the police quickly catch up with her.

In a brutal way, the 12-year-old girl is physically attacked and lying on the ground by a police officer, while several officers huddle around the two digging in the ground. Apparently, several angry passersby have to be suppressed as they watch the scene unfolding in front of them.

The video footage has spread rapidly on social media and created strong reactions in Hong Kong.

According to the girl’s mother, the 12-year-old girl and her brother were buying painting equipment for an art project when riot police began detaining people on the street they were on.

Thousands in the streets

On Sunday, Hong Kongers were supposed to flock to the polls to vote for representatives of the local legislature, known as LegCo. But the election has been postponed. Instead of voting, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest.

It was the largest demonstration in Hong Kong since the controversial security law was introduced on July 1 this year. The law aimed to stall the large demonstrations that have heavily affected the city since May 2019.

The new law makes it a crime to defy authorities and, to a large extent, has put an end to the demonstrations. But this weekend it was reduced again.

– A calculated political decision

A new outbreak in the city was the reason the elections were postponed for a year, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said when she announced the controversial decision in July.

But pro-democracy activists in the city see the postponement as a clearly calculated political act. Opposition politician Ted Hui believes the government is more afraid of losing the election than of the virus outbreak, NTB writes.

The Security Law grants broad powers

Chaos, pepper spray and mass arrests were what he encountered with the protesters on Sunday.

Riot police detained and searched large groups of people throughout the city, a right that the police now have as a result of the broad powers granted by the new security law.

At least 289 people have been arrested, several of them with very harsh methods if one is to believe the countless video images that have circulated after the weekend.

New daily life for Hong Kong Chinese

Much has gone from bad to worse for the people of Hong Kong in recent times.

The rights of people in the partially independent territory are slowly but surely being diluted under increased Chinese control, according to various UN agencies.

The new security law has given the Chinese authorities broad powers. The law prohibits what Beijing calls separatist activity, terrorism, and cooperation with foreign powers.

In the past two months, newspaper editorials have been registered, academics critical of the regime have been fired, and books written by pro-democracy activists have been removed from library shelves.

Slogans supporting the city’s independence may now lead to arrest, while some pro-democracy activists have fled the country. Several have already been arrested.

Western condemnation

The Security Act is considered the most serious violation to date of the “one country – two systems” agreement reached between China and the UK in 1997 on the transfer of Hong Kong to China.

Under the agreement, Hong Kong’s local government will have full control over the laws that are introduced and will be able to maintain its political system with full freedoms until 2047.

The new law has received condemnation from the international community, mainly from Western countries. Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and France, among other things, withdrew their extradition agreements with Hong Kong.

The EU has also imposed some restrictions on exports, while the United States has said it will remove the city’s special trade status as a countermeasure.

Requires a public apology from the police

Following the incident with the 12-year-old girl, the Hong Kong police responded to the criticism by claiming that the girl was arrested because she escaped from the police in a “suspicious manner”. She was also arrested with minimal force, according to a statement.

The girl is said to have escaped the incident with some bruises, according to CNN. She and her brother are also said to have been fined for violating the city’s coronary restrictions, which prohibit gatherings of more than two people.

A signature campaign is now demanding a public apology from the police and that the incident be investigated.

In just a few hours, it should have received more than 10,000 signatures, writes the New York Times.