A 17-year-old Hong Kong girl who participated in anti-extradition bill protests has accused the police of sexually assaulting her last September.

It’s the latest allegation of such abuses by police on female protesters since the anti-extradition bill protests began in Hong Kong more than a year ago.

The student (identified by the pseudonym K), said she has attempted suicide three times since the alleged abuse and been diagnosed with post-trauma stress syndrome.

K said she was arrested near a Fancl cosmetics outlet in Shatin’s New Town Plaza shopping mall in the evening of September 25 last year. Large crowds had gathered to protest the government’s handling of the now-retracted extradition bill, and police brutality.

K recalled that after her arrest, police officers spoke to her using demeaning language and ignored her requests to contact her lawyer and family. A female police officer allegedly “squeezed” K’s chest several times in front of a crowd after escorting her from the mall.

According to a classmate of K, police officers continued their verbal abuse on K when inside a police vehicle. K said her repeated requests to go the toilet were refused by police after she was taken to the police station.

“When I said ‘going to the toilet is a basic human right’, a female police officer sneered and said to me that I was a suspect and so my freedom was now in their hands,” she said.

She was permitted to go to the toilet in about an hour after her first request, but the female police officer kept her “eyes glued” to her along the process.

K recalled that she felt helpless as her six requests to contact her family and lawyer were brushed aside. “The police officers kept telling me to wait for a moment,” she said. Her lawyer finally knew of her arrest after being told by K’s friend.

K also said she was ordered to take off all her clothes including her bra and underpants for a body search. During this process, the female police officer allegedly moved her head close to K’s chess and vagina, and uttered some “very nasty and demeaning words”.

K said she believed the police viewed those arrested protesters as a tool to vent their hatred. “They think they don’t need to bear any legal liability for such behavior. But this is exactly why I must speak up,” she said.

Apple Daily has contacted the Hong Kong Police for comment and is awaiting a reply.

Social worker Jackie Chen said the alleged police acts amounted to sexual violence, and it was unnecessary for the police to conduct a naked body search on an underage person without a family member present.

Chen compared K’s case to drug trafficking suspects, who often might not be required to undergo a similar body search.

At least two other young female protesters in Hong Kong have accused police of sexual assault since last September. One of the accusers, Sonia Ng, has set up a group seeking to help victims of similar cases. Ng said she would consider filing a complaint over K’s case with the police after seeking legal advice.

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