The police said 148 people were arrested following clashes with
protesters yesterday, the largest daily toll since pro-democracy
protests began off two months ago, RTHK reports.
“During the
operation, the police arrested 148 people consisting of 95 males and 53
females, aged between 13 and 63 years old,” superintendent John Tse said
during a daily press conference.
He also said police fired 800 tear
gas rounds yesterday, almost as many as the 1,000 rounds they said they
had fired throughout the whole of the past two months. Riot police also
fired 140 rubber bullets and 20 sponge rounds.
Tse said reasonable
force was needed to restore law and order and he dismissed claims that
police had taken out their anger on protesters by using excessive
violence.
“Our officers will not put their tempers on the rioters.
In fact, we take care of their behavior and we have psychologists to
talk with them when they’re not working to make sure they’re calm enough
when executing their duties,” Tse said.
He also lashed out at protesters who vandalized more than 100 traffic lights, saying they had severely undermined road safety.