Hong Kong protestors rush to give umbrella & helmet to journalist after police fires tear gas

They helped douse his eyes with water too.

Guan Zhen Tan | June 14, 2019, 01:39 AM

Journalists from various international wires and agencies have been covering the protests in Hong Kong.

Ramy Inocencio, a news correspondent from CBS News is one of them.

Provided protection

Inocencio was reporting at ground zero on June 12 when tear gas was fired by the riot police.

The journalist was largely unprotected from the tear gas, until a few protestors stepped in while he was reporting.

Two men rushed to give Inocencio an umbrella.

Inocencio accepted the umbrella, and thanked them in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

As he continued speaking to the camera while holding onto the umbrella, yet another protestor handed him a helmet, putting it on his head.

Inocencio interrupts his report briefly again to thank the protestor for doing so.

Taking to social media to express his gratitude for the unnamed protestors, he uploaded the footage on to Twitter.

Protestors have been seen working in groups dousing tear gas canisters with water to snuff them out.

More help rendered

This was not the only time protestors assisted the journalist.

Subsequently on the same day, Inocencio and his team would experience the stinging effects of the tear gas first hand, and protestors helped to douse his eyes with bottled water to flush out the irritants.

The scene was captured by his colleague Randy Schmidt, and Inocencio posted a still from the footage on his Facebook page and Twitter account, to express his gratitude to protestors on the ground once again.

The post has garnered over 1,000 shares on Facebook as of writing, with Hongkongers showing solidarity with Inocencio, thanking him for telling "the truth" by conveying news about the protest to the world.

Postponed again

According to CNA, there are 81 injuries related to the protests as of 5pm on June 13.

Separately, 22 officers were injured and 11 people were arrested.

The police had fired about 150 tear gas canisters, though Hong Kong Police Commissioner Stephen Lo had defended the police and their actions, saying that they had shown restraint, until "mobsters" attempted to storm parliament.

Hong Kong lawmakers have since postponed a meeting to discuss the extradition bill.

Originally scheduled for June 12, it was initially postponed to June 14 before being put off again, until further notice.

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Top image via Ramy Inocencio's Twitter