Hong Kong, August 29: Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong on Thursday to protest against supposed sexual abuse by the city’s police during the past months of rallies.
The rally was named as a “#MeToo” event, echoing universal protest to put an end to sexual violence, harassment, and assault, according to BBC news reports.
Rally organizers have said at least 30,000 individuals attended the demonstration, while the Hong Kong police and armed forces put those figures at some 11, 500, according to the local media reports.
At Wednesday’s demonstration, some participants told the gathering they had been harassed and misbehaved by the city’s police officer.
As per the South China Morning Post reports, one woman among others broke down into tears as she blamed police for conducting strip-search which was unnecessary.
However, the police has dismissed the allegations on Tuesday, stating they contain video footage that didn’t support her allegation.
“I told them I was wearing a dress and asked them to let me walk. But, of course, they played deaf,” reports quoted her as saying.
“I am not ashamed of talking about what happened that night, because I did not make any mistakes. I am not a weakling. I don’t need people to sympathize with me.”
So beautiful to see that 30,000 people came out to support Hong Kong’s #metoo movement against the HKPF sexual assault last night #protesttoo #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/Oxk3tdn6Ur
— Samantha Wong-Topp 高明媚 (@SamanthaMeiTopp) August 29, 2019
Hong Kong protesters have been from past months rallying in the territory against a controversial extradition bill that would allow suspects in the city to be sent to mainland China for further court prosecution.