-My name is Isa, I am 18 years old,
and I am protester.
It's my first time being arrested.
I've never been arrested before.
We just got out of the MTR station,
and it was just like 10 seconds or half a minute
and the police came out and everyone started to run.
I think 10 or 12 police were there.
And I was being pulled down and they also beat me up.
They didn't hit my head, but my back and my legs.
And soon, I was being arrested.
I think it's because of the panic attack,
I can't really remember what that few minutes happened.
-We are no longer living in the world
or the city which we used to believe in.
-Fight for freedom! Fight for freedom!
-It's really traumatic for a lawyer to see
or witness that the legal system is crumbling
because there seems to be no supervision
or constraint on police power.
-The thousands arrested have relied
on a small number of pro bono lawyers
who have provided crucial help,
particularly in the first 48 hours after their arrest.
Among them is Hermes Chan.
-Sometimes you will feel a strong sense
of helplessness and guiltiness.
Because there may be more than one group of relatives
or families or friends of the arrested person
who seek your help at the same time.
-Here, family members are gathered
outside North Point Police Station after a mass arrest,
waiting for more information on their loved ones.
-What is democracy supposed to be?
We're not in China, either.
We're in Hong Kong.
-My girlfriend and two of my colleagues
have been arrested near Wan Chai
outside of the Southorn Playground.
We don't have any response why they have been arrested
or how long will they be there.
-Last November marked one of the earliest instances
of a mass arrest,
when hundreds of protesters in a Hong Kong
sports crowd were detained.
Lawyers and activists worry that police
are now abusing their powers of arrest.
-It's one indication of how the police
are effecting a lot of arrests
without perhaps sufficient basis for doing so.
The police are using arrests
as a way to get people off the streets.
And, again, that withdrawal of charges,
I think, is an indicator of that.
-My name is Jennifer Wang,
and I volunteer as a human rights observer
with an organization called Rights Exposure.
We've been monitoring the policing of public
assemblies since August.
-It's the 17th of November, and we are outside of Poly U.
-An especially dramatic moment
in Hong Kong's anti-government movement
was the siege of Polytechnic University.
Radical protesters occupied the university
and hoped to use it as a base
to defend themselves against the Hong Kong police.
-We were there overnight, and on the next morning,
on the 18th, when we were trying to leave the police cordon,
we were arrested.
We told them we were human rights observers.
We told them we had the right to be there, just like journalists.
And they, but they proceeded to arrest us
on participation in a riot.
-The conflict at Poly U resulted in one
of the biggest arrests of the movement.
It wasn't just protesters who were rounded up,
but civil rights observers and medics, a new police tactic.
-We must reiterate that no one has the privilege
to stay in a riot.
You can claim to be a first aider, a human rights observer,
you name it, but this doesn't give you any exemption
from any legal liability for taking part in a riot.
-It's been absolutely overwhelming.
Over 1,000 arrests have been made.
And today, today's Wednesday,
we know that over 200 people have been charged
and will be brought to court today, this afternoon.
-I am frontline riot police.
The tactic of using tear gas
and arresting hardcore protesters was ineffective.
So police changed tactic to mass arrest,
including peaceful protesters.
The police know it is difficult
to send peaceful protesters to court.
They might not necessarily get charged.
But the arrest itself is a big deal for peaceful protesters.
It scares and deters them.
That is why this tactic is effective.
-I was arrested nearby my home.
I stand for too long on the road.
-24-year-old Fok was arrested last year
and charged with vandalism.
Though his charge is relatively minor,
it has changed his willingness to go out to protest.
-Recently, it's too many people get arrested so easily.
So, I can't take the risk of it.
-He has lost his job.
He worries that if he's arrested again,
police will not grant him bail, and he will be among the dozens
confined to detention centers as they await trial.
-I just can't tell what the future is.
-This year, hundreds of people,
including Fok, will go on trial for alleged offenses
related to the protest movement.
This is emerging as a new flash point for the movement
and a moment of reckoning for the young protesters.
-I hope on the next court I will be innocent
and then this case is closed file.
For me, this is the best ending. -I live on the Kowloon side,
and I often take the bus to and from work.
And one of the stops is Polytechnic University.
And since my arrest and since what had happened in Poly U,
every day when I take the bus, it's just anger, sadness.
It will never, ever be the same again.
But so much of Hong Kong will never be the same again.