Water cannon sprays mosque entrance in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Police have come under fire as video surfaced of one of its crowd clearing water canon trucks sprayed blue tinted water towards the entrance of the city’s largest mosque.

As violent protests escalated on Sunday, Hong Kong Police moved to clear the streets using tear gas and a truck equipped with high pressure water cannons.

The truck stopped Sunday in front of the Kowloon Mosque, aiming its water cannons in the direction of the front gate where a small group of journalists and bystanders had gathered.

Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam happened to be outside of the Mosque and shared video of what it looked like from the bystanders point of view on his Facebook page.

The blue dyed water doused the front gate and stairs to the mosque before the truck moved on in its crowd clearing mission. The coloring is used to help the police catch front line protesters after they disperse.

Shortly after the incident took place, many citizens came out to help clean the gate and stairs of the mosque.

In a message on its Facebook page, the Muslim Council of Hong Kong wrote that they do not believe the Mosque was targeted, but many have taken to social media to express outrage.

The Hong Kong Police force called the event “unfortunate” on its official twitter feed and wrote “The Police respect religious freedom in Hong Kong and will strive to protect all places of worship.”

Sunday Hong Kong saw it’s 20th consecutive weekend of protests where protesters blocked roads, vandalized businesses and set fire to numerous public transportation entrances.

On Monday, as the city continued to clean up from the previous night of violence, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam along with Hong Kong Police chief Stephen Lo visited the mosque to apologize in person.