[Editor's note: We have noted readers' feedback regarding this article's headline. We have edited the headline to better reflect the contents of the article, which is about the extent of police brutalising protesters and commuters during the 13th weekend of protests in Hong Kong.

The contents of the entire article have remained the same as before.]

Hong Kong police chased and beat the daylights out of radical protesters, and then some, in a MTR station and train on Saturday night.

This was followed up by arrests.

What footage showed

Video footage showed members of the Special Tactical Squad, known as “raptors”, at Prince Edward station on Saturday night.

They were seen charging into a stationary train as officers hit two men and two women in masks who were crying and cowering on the ground.

Another officer pepper sprayed them.

Other passengers, some of them masked, could be seen with their umbrellas up as the officers left the cabin without making any arrests.

Other footage showed several commuters bleeding from head wounds.

Officers tying up suspects who had been wrestled to the ground could also be seen.

Shots fired again

Police reportedly fired two live rounds into the air to fight off a violent mob near Victoria Park, sources told the South China Morning Post.

Word had spread of undercover officers mingling with the demonstrators.

It was the second time in a week that an officer had fired his gun into the air.

Earlier in the day, protesters set fire to objects on Hong Kong’s streets.

Petrol bombs were hurled at riot police who fought back by firing blue dye from water cannons.

Police justifications

Police said they were responding to emergency calls about protesters destroying ticketing machines and the MTR control room window.

Mong Kok MTR station was vandalised.

“We disagree with the allegations police officers had entered the MTR stations to beat people up,” a police spokeswoman said.

“The officers used their professional experience to distinguish protesters who had changed clothes from ordinary commuters.”

But she subsequently acknowledged it was difficult to differentiate protesters from ordinary citizens or reporters at the scene.

She said officers retaliated with force and pepper spray to arrest protesters after being attacked with umbrellas.

Passengers have complained about police using excessive force at Prince Edward station, such as beating people who were not even resisting.

Journalists were ordered to leave Prince Edward station but hundreds stayed on.

Police said 40 people had been arrested inside Prince Edward station for “participating in an illegal assembly, destroying property and obstruction of justice” in an early morning press conference.

Background

The clashes on Saturday had moved to Kowloon after police fired tear gas and deployed water cannons on Hong Kong Island to disperse protesters who had taken over roads and set fire to barricades using petrol bombs.

Marches on Saturday were banned and called off but people in Hong Kong showed up anyways.

On Sunday morning, services at MTR stations in Mong Kok and Prince Edward, on the Tsuen Wan line remained suspended.

The MTR Corporation also said services at Kowloon Bay station, on the Kwun Tong line, were down due to vandalism.

Both lanes of Tim Wa Avenue remained closed to traffic after water cannons fired streams of blue dye to disperse protesters.

Hours earlier, more tear gas was fired, this time in the Eastern district of Chai Wan after local councillor Andy Chui Chi-kin was arrested at Chai Wan MTR station.

He was charged with disorder in public places and was still under detention on Sunday morning.