A female protester in Hong Kong found herself in a compromising situation while struggling with the riot police.

The lower half of her body was allegedly exposed during a heated confrontation with a group of police officers at Tin Shui Wai, a town in New Territories, in the early hours of Monday, Aug. 5.

The city has entered its ninth consecutive weekend of protests in its worst political crisis since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.

Dragged by police officers

In a video that has gone viral on social media, the woman could be heard screaming during her struggle with the police.

While the lower part of her body could hardly be seen in the videos, photos circulating online censored the lower half of her body.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0wGQqnniW0/

According to HK01, the woman's lower half was exposed while she was dragged by the police to the police station.

The police officers then called for a female police officer to come over.

HK01 reported that the protester was then carried by the group of police officers to the police station while she remained in a state of undress.

Alleged eye witnesses accused the police of "taking advantage of the woman", HK01 added.

The report also claimed that the woman was asking a female companion to leave the place with her when she was confronted by the police.

While there were rumours that the woman's undergarments fell off, no major news outlet in Hong Kong could confirm that really happened.

Exchange between police and Hongkongers

In a video uploaded by HK01, the following exchange could be heard:

Police: Please cooperate or we will use force to bring you back. Do you hear me?

Woman: Don't beat her up, if you beat her, it's your fault... Don't do this, we are just ordinary citizens.

Police: Just ignore them, block them using your batons.

Woman: Wow this is really pok gai (Cantonese swear word which means to fall to the ground, or a bastard). More than 10 people against a girl, these people have bad character, and are even worse than animals.

Police: Go away, don't interrupt with police work

Journalist: Don't push the journalists!

Woman: You have mothers too, don't you all have mothers?

Police: Don't come any closer. I'm warning you again, don't come any closer. Shut up!

Woman: Does this street belong to you?

Police said woman was uncooperative

The issue triggered a massive backlash among Hong Kong netizens, who accused the police of not respecting women as they did not help the woman cover up after she became unclothed.

In response, the Hong Kong police said the woman was arrested for attacking police officers.

However, as she was not cooperative in the process, the police then asked three female officers to keep her under control, they said.

Even so, the police still had difficulty subduing her as she kept struggling.

This is why two more male officers were called for back-up, the police explained.

"She was wearing a dress at that time, and she struggled in an agitated manner," they said.

"That was how we arrived at the scene that was captured by cameras."

Alleged female protester spoke out about incident

In a post on LIHKG, Hong Kong's Reddit-like forum, a netizen claiming to be the woman in the incident came forward with fresh details of her side of the story.

Saying that she is now out on bail, and that she was released at 6:30am on Monday morning, Aug. 5.

She also claimed she sustained some minor wounds and bruises on her limbs, and that she was indeed wearing a dress as she had run out of pants after joining the protests for a few days.

Claimed police shouted at her

But the LIHKG user claimed that she cannot be sure if her undergarment had indeed fallen off as the situation was "too chaotic".

In addition, the user accused the riot police of shouting "smelly chicken" -- which means "prostitute" in Cantonese -- and "bitch" at her.

She further claimed that when she shouted "female police officer" and "journalist", the police dragging her away responded with, "Why the heck are you shouting?", while pulling on her hair.

While she was being dragged across the road, she allegedly kept shouting, "My dress!"

It was only after crossing the road that female officers took over from the male officers, she said.

She also claimed that she repeatedly told the police officers that she is capable of standing up and walking, but her requests went unheeded.

Top image via Apple Daily HK/IG