Hong Kong Police Defend Officer Firing Gun During Protest

Police officers point their guns at protesters in Tseun Wan in Hong Kong on Aug. 25

Photographer: Lillian Sunwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

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Hong Kong police defended an officer’s decision to fire a shot in the sky, calling it “the best option” as hundreds of protesters charged toward a fallen officer with metal poles and other weapons.

“Our officer’s life was in great danger,” Yolanda Yu, a police senior superintendent, said at a briefing early Monday morning. “The use of force was indeed necessary and reasonable -- it was to protect any person, including the officer himself, from death or serious bodily injury.”