WASHINGTON, DC — An online activist wearing a mask and using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation alleged some Hong Kong police officers have raped detained female protesters.
Several Hong Kong activists participated in a forum on Capitol Hill on Wednesday primarily sponsored by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VCMF) in collaboration with other groups.
Irving Alfred Baleros, social worker and front line activist in Hong Kong, alleged police officers are raiding medical facilities to arrest wounded protestors.
Baleros, who operates a medical center to treat Hong Kong protesters hurt by police, proclaimed:
Starting from the beginning of June, the police has been going into the hospitals and identifying those protestors who get injured [many times by law enforcement’s own hands]. Then, they disrupt them through their process of treatment, and they arrest them in the hospital.
This is creating a lot of horrors. People who are getting injured from protesting, they are not going into the hospitals to seek medical support or medical assistance.
I remember I received a case [about a protester] who suffered from a bone fraction, but he did not dare find a doctor because he was worried that if he went to medical support, he would be caught by police. … What police are doing is putting the protesters lives in danger, and we are really, really angry about that.
A masked female online activist identified by the nom-de-guerre CK also participated in the Capitol Hill event. She documented what she described as the “lies of our government” about the realities facing Hong Kong protests for a media broadcast platform known as the Citizens Press Conference.
Carrie Lam, the China-appointed leader of Hong Kong, has repeatedly dismissed police brutality accusations against local police officers. At the end of last month, she vowed to use “stern law enforcement” to quell the violent demonstrators instead. The pro-democracy movement has demanded an independent investigation into police brutality, but Hong Kong law enforcement reportedly rejects such a move.
On Wednesday, the activist CK proclaimed:
I’m often kept awake a night … by the horrible things happening in Hong Kong. … My nightmares … consist … of police brutality — covert murders, [extrajudicial inc arceration], and even cases of torture, and suspected rapes of arrestees.
She suggested she receives thousands of complaints about police brutality daily and writes about them all.
LV, who also wore a mask and used a pseudonym on Wednesday, accused the Chinese communist dictatorship of fueling the unrest in Hong Kong by ordering the police to hurt “so many innocent civilians … with tear gas.”
As a volunteer first aid responder, LV claimed she witnessed the abuse first hand.
“I saw with my own eyes that emotional Hong Kong police are using excessive force to brutally beat in the heads of” demonstrators who had already surrendered “with batons,” she said.
“I witnessed police pepper spray protesters at closer range and using rubber bullets and bean bag rounds without any warning.” LV also said.
Citizen journalist CK expressed fear about retaliation from the communist regime. She indicated that pro-Beijing Hong Kong leaders are using the police to crush dissent and maintain its grip over the minds of the city’s residents, adding:
Our government hates it when we speak our truth. So they rob us of freedom of speech and thought. It is the [Chinese Communist Party’s] favorite tactic to divide and conquer and thus [documenting the atrocities] is particularly crucial. It is our last line of defense on which we converge amid this diminishing capacity for us to speak for our selves. Only by making truth widely and available may the people make the best judgment and decisions for themselves
Wednesday’s event featured Chinese human right advocates Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA). Congress is considering legislation to support Hong Kong protestors amid the ongoing Washington-Beijing trade war. It came amid ongoing pro-democracy protests raging in Hong Kong since June with animosity between the demonstrators and police turning increasingly violent.
Cruz vowed the U.S would take necessary steps to ensure China respects human rights and the island’s autonomy desires.
Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese jurisdiction that enjoys more democratic values than the mainland. China, however, has been taking those away. Despite China’s armed forces buildups in Hong Kong, Communist Party dictator Xi Jinping has yet to use military force in response to the protest.
A now rescinded bill that would have allowed the extradition of Hong Kong criminals to China triggered the ongoing demonstrations. The primary focus of the protests, however, has entirely shifted to Hong Kong’s desire for democracy and full autonomy.
During Wednesday’s event and a similar one the previous involving some of the same participants and hosted the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, authorities urged American lawmakers to support their democracy struggle against Beijing’s Communist authoritarianism.