TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two Chinese men, a suspected Chinese police officer and a Global Times reporter, were caught by protesters and tied up during the sit-in at Hong Kong Airport on Tuesday (Aug. 13), the Stand News reports.
At around 6 p.m., a fight broke out between protesters and a suspicious man in a black t-shirt who was suspected to be a “mole” sent to sabotage the assembly. Although airport security quickly intervened to stop the fight, protesters discovered that the man carried a Hong Kong and Macau Pass, the travel document Chinese citizens need to enter Hong Kong, and began questioning the man, demanding to know if he worked for the Chinese police.
The man denied the accusation, claiming that he lived in Shenzhen and had just come to the airport to drop off a friend. However, protesters soon found that the name printed on his pass – Xu Jinyang (徐錦煬) – was on the Shenzhen Futian Police Branch's (深圳福田分局) list of auxiliary police, and they proceeded to tie Xu’s hands with plastic straps, according to Undergrad HKUSU Instant News.
The protesters also found that Xu had received a message saying “Everyone to the second terminal building” on Wechat, a Chinese social media app. Another message, “Jinyang was caught,” popped up, and soon Xu’s account was banned from the group, possibly to prevent the protesters from receiving more information from Xu’s mobile phone.
Suspected Chinese police Xu Jinyang (Source: Undergrad HKUSU Instant News)
At around 10:45 p.m., Hong Kong riot police units without visible warrant cards were sent in to rescue Xu. The protesters quickly retreated.
One of the escaping protesters was taken down by a police officer but was immediately rescued by other protesters. Overwhelmed by the protesters, the police took out his pistol, which made the protesters disperse.
Protesters rescuing another protester from police (Source: Stand News Live)
At around 12 a.m., another suspicious man was found seemingly taking photos secretly, and a quarrel broke out when protesters asked him about his behavior. Protesters soon saw that the man had carried with him a blue t-shirt with the words “I love the police” printed on it, and they tied his hands and feet with plastic straps, Ming Pao reports.
Chinese government-operated media outlet the Global Times confirmed the man to be Fu Guohao (付國豪), one of its journalists, and condemned the “rioters” treatment of him in a Weibo post at 12:20 a.m. However, the protesters said that Fu had claimed to be a tourist, not a journalist, and questioned why Fu did not just show his press pass and take footage openly instead of giving them reasons to believe he was a Chinese agent in disguise.
While bound, Fu kept shouting “I support the Hong Kong police! You guys can beat me now!” but the protesters did not do anything to Fu after having tied him up. The police did not show up to rescue Fu, but Fu was later transported to a hospital by the fire and emergency medical department after two legislative council members mediated the situation.
Global Times reporter Fu Guohao (Source: Associated Press)