Big Surprise, Korean Rioters Claim Hong Kong Police Brutality

Using a tried and true technique to avoid responsibility for their own criminal activity, the Korean rioters from the Hong Kong WTO riots are now accusing the Hong Kong authorities of police brutality:

Kong have claimed police there fired rubber bullets in the attempt to quell the demonstration. Hong Kong police arrested hundreds of Koreans for staging illegal protests during the WTO Ministerial Meeting there last week. Most have

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Democratic Labor Party lawmaker Kang Ki-kap said Wednesday one of the arrested, Kang Seung-kyu, told him he was hit in the thigh by a round black rubber projectile measuring 4 cm across.

Two other Korean protesters were shot by rubber bullets but kept this quiet for fear of being thought of as hooligans, the opposition lawmaker said.

The Korean Consul-General in Hong Kong Cho Hwan-bok said police there told him they only used tear gas to quell the protests and had no orders to fire rubber bullets, but they promised to check whether rubber bullets were nonetheless used. Hong Kong police is to fire rubber bullets only when protests turn into riots.

I would say assaulting policemen with metal pipes, attacking the US Consulate, and setting cars on fire is enough to be considered a riot. I know in South Korea that is considered a peaceful protest, but in the rest of the world that is considered a riot. They ought to feel lucky that the Chinese authorities didn’t go Tianamen on them and use real bullets.