Hong Kong healthcare workers join protests

Thousands of healthcare workers in Hong Kong have rallied to protest against what they see as excessive use of violence by the police during the ongoing protest movement in the territory and to show that they stand with the Hong Kong public. Some have also been volunteering to treat injuries in the protest zones and to provide off-site medical care to people who fear arrest if they seek treatment in hospital.

The protests began in early June to oppose a proposed law that would allow China to request extradition of Hong Kong citizens to China. They have since broadened to include calls for an independent commission of inquiry to examine alleged police violence, the introduction of universal suffrage as promised to Hong Kong under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, and other related demands.

Public demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience have continued every …