A pregnant woman and her husband insisted that riot police pushed her to the ground while arresting him on Monday night near Prince Edward metro station, where crowds gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of a major event of police brutality.

The woman was admitted to hospital later that night. Her husband, surnamed Fung, was arrested on suspicion of causing disorder in a public place and released on police bail at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Fung told reporters that both his wife and their fetus were safe and would be discharged soon. She was not under arrest, he said.

The husband said he was trying to protect his wife when police pulled them apart. While it was still unclear whether she had been pushed by the police, Fung said: “Online media have captured [the scene]. They can’t deny it.”

The woman was seven to eight months’ pregnant, a local media report cited Andy Yu, vice chairman of the Yau Tsim Mong district council and a Civic Party member, as saying.

A year ago, riot police entered train carriages in Prince Edward station, beat and subdued black-clad people with batons and used pepper spray in the confined environment as they tried to arrest anti-government protesters while barring any media coverage on-site.

The controversial incident, which is colloquially called “8.31,” triggered various unsubstantiated claims of civilian deaths that were denied by the police and the government.

On Tuesday morning, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that she was concerned about the case of the pregnant woman and hoped similar incidents would not take place again.

Lam said people seemed to have forgotten the reason why the police had to enforce the law at the metro station in the first place, adding that officers would not need to take action if there was no conflict or rioting on the streets.

Meanwhile, the police said on their social media page that while arresting a man on Argyle Street, officers pulled away an accompanying woman and deployed pepper spray in response to the situation. They did not realize until later that she was pregnant, according to the post. The police were “highly concerned about this case and express concern for the pregnant woman.”

At least 14 people, aged between 16 and 60, were arrested for participating in an illegal assembly, causing disorder in public places and assaulting police officers on Monday evening in Prince Edward and the neighboring area of Mong Kok.

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