American Pastor cum Hong Kong permanent resident Bob Kraft was harassed by a team of Hong Kong police officers, when he was sitting alone on a stone outside the Tai Po Police Headquarters having a snack at 4 pm on Oct 13. Meanwhile, there was a protest going on in Tai Po. With their batons extended, they alleged that he was a suspected rioter, yelled at him, touched his shoulder, threatened him with arrest if he did not stop filming and if he did not let them search his belongings. Pastor Kraft cooperatively showed them his American passport and his HKID card. Despite his objection, they thoroughly searched his bag. When they switched on his digital camera, the Pastor thought that they had crossed the line and told them to turn it off, on the ground that they had no right to look into his electronic device without a search warrant.
Kraft then asked the police if they were from China. (Most of them did not show a police number on their uniform.) "Are you guys from China because Hong Kong people don’t act like this?” The senior officer then replied, “No we do not have to answer your question.” 30 seconds later the Pastor said, "You guys are crazy you know that I am sorry to say that but you really are and if I were you I think you should really reflect on what you are doing." The senior officer only replied much later “Everyone’s been crazy” to Pastor Kraft. Finally, the head of the team told the Pastor (off camera) after they released him, "We have met today's quota, so you can go now but you cannot stay here (in front of the police station.)"
Pastor Kraft told HKBNews that he had been stopped by the HK police for more than 200 times since 2013. Aged 62, he is an American veteran who has been living in HK for more than 25 years.
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