Police help quell prison disturbance on Hei Ling Chau

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Police helped quell a prison disturbance on Hei Ling Chau early this (June 5) morning.

At about 7.10 pm yesterday (June 4), Police received a request for assistance call from the Correctional Services Department to help handle a disturbance at the Hei Ling Chau Drug Treatment Centre.

About 10 minutes later, two Police launches with 15 officers on board responding to the call arrived at the island but they were attacked by some 100 inmates with makeshift weapons such as stones.

Very soon 13 Police vessels with 70 officers aboard also arrived at the scene.

Twenty rounds of tear gas were fired to contain the situation.

Reinforcement from six platoons of the Police Tactical Unit subsequently turned up.

A fire broke out in a cell at about 12.30 am today (June 5) and some Vietnamese inmates were found trapped inside.

Police Tactical Unit officers then fired 14 rounds of tear gas and seven tear grenades to put the situation under control and rescued 10 Vietnamese inmates from the cell and three in the vicinity of the cell.

All the rescued inmates, who sustained injuries, were sent to hospital for medical treatment.

During the operation eight Police officers were also injured. Seven had been treated and discharged from hospital while one was admitted to hospital.

After the situation on Hei Ling Chau was put under control and all inmates were accounted for around 5 am, all Police manpower deployed to the island was withdrawn.

Add Police Report No. 1

Issued by PPRB

End/0530 hours, Monday, June 5, 2000 (PW)

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