'US should punish HK officials for police brutality'

'US should punish HK officials for police brutality'

Bernard Chan (second right) visited the US recently along with other Exco members. Photo: RTHK

Around 100 pro-democracy groups have urged the US to sanction Hong Kong officials over "extensive police brutality" in the SAR, and factor in universal suffrage when assessing how much autonomy the city has.



This comes as the Trump administration is conducting its first review of the SAR’s situation, as required by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was passed by the US Congress last November.



Demosisto’s Joshua Wong said activist groups in Hong Kong and overseas had co-signed an open letter to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling for the moves.



But Wong said they don't feel optimistic their requests will be answered, with Washington likely to be distracted by the Covid-19 outbreak and uncertainty arising from the Sino-US trade dispute.



"The US government might pay far more attention on how to handle the epidemic, but we still emphasise the importance of international advocacy," Wong said.



Meanwhile, a group of government advisers said they had spoken about the new law on Hong Kong when they met American officials earlier this month in the US.



The convenor of the Executive Council, Bernard Chan, said he told senior US officials that the passage of the act had actually created more problems and divided the people of Hong Kong.



Chan, who was joined on the trip by other executive councillors, said he told the US that it was very inappropriate timing for the act to be passed as Hong Kong was being rocked by anti-government protests, and the move had only led to further misunderstandings.



"This act, certainly, is not helping Hong Kong to heal our divisions ... even though you may claim that this is all a good intention, but the unintended consequences are that this further divided the people in Hong Kong," he said.



Chan said discussions on the possibility of the US sanctioning Hong Kong officials over human rights violations only took up a tiny amount of their meeting time.