Hong Kong police have been pushed and pulled in all directions during weeks of pro-democracy street protests, obeying orders to clear protest sites, allow protest sites to stay put, push back demonstrators and protect them from attack.
With no end to the standoff in sight, the police, long known as “Asia’s finest,” risk being cast as enforcers for an unpopular central government in Beijing or failing in their duty to ensure the city remains one of the safest in the world.
“Your friendly ‘bobby on the beat’ image ... has been taken for granted in Hong Kong,” said Steve Tsang, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in England.
“If the police start actually using force then all those things that have been built up ... will go out of the window.”
In signs of goodwill, police have been seen washing out protesters’ eyes with bottled water after using pepper spray. Protesters have used their trademark yellow umbrellas to protect police in sub-tropical downpours.
But the force seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place, with uncertainty creeping into tactics. The use of tear gas only drew more demonstrators on to the streets. Protesters have since been allowed to block some of main thoroughfares, illegally, sparking anger from tradesmen and small businesses whose livelihoods have been hit.
China took back control of the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997 through a “one country, two systems” formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.
But Beijing said in August it would effectively screen candidates who want to run for city leader, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of democracy meaningless. Student-led activists have since taken to the streets.
When police stepped in to protect protesters from attack by opponents, they were swiftly accused of co-operating with triad criminal gangs, failing to make arrests and helping some of the assailants escape the scene.
“People are saying the police are switching back to being licensed triads,” said a protester who gave his name as Wong.
Their reputation took a further battering when several officers were caught on video beating and kicking a handcuffed protester as others kept lookout.
The triad accusations hark back more than four decades to an era of violent unrest fomented by the Chinese Communist Party in the grips of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and to a colonial-led force that was mired in graft and brutality.
The then Royal Hong Kong Police worked hard to clear that stain and earn a place among the world’s most trustworthy forces.
According to the World Justice Project’s 2013-14 rule of law index, only police forces in Japan, Singapore and Denmark ranked higher in providing order and security. Hong Kong police were also fourth - behind Finland, New Zealand and Qatar - in a World Economic Forum 2013-14 global competitiveness report that gauged the reliability of police services.
