HONG KONG — The “yellow object” lying on the ground had a distinct shape, evident in the video footage that surfaced later. Certainly, a good portion of it was bright yellow. It appeared to have arms. And two protrusions that resembled legs. Someone had dressed the object in dark-colored shorts.
As Hong Kong police officers swarmed over the object and roughed it up in a dark alley, it appeared to squirm.
In a city grown accustomed to clashes between demonstrators and police as the government responds to months of protests with tear gas and mass arrests, the incident on Saturday and the official response to it illustrated a breakdown in the relationship between the police force and the public.
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