A group of young people who claim to have experienced sexual assault by the Hong Kong police has produced a short video calling for help from the international community.

The five, including a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, in particular urged the United States government to impose sanctions on wrongdoers and the Communist Party of China.

All clad in black in the video, they said on Wednesday that young people in Hong Kong had been fighting against communism at the forefront and were now in need of assistance.

“We have done everything we can. And now we need your help,” they said. “Sanction all the perpetrators and remove the Communist Party from Hong Kong once and for all.”

Since massive protests broke out in Hong Kong a year ago, protesters have accused police officers of sexual violence, including contact with sensitive parts of the body, sex-related verbal abuse, strip searches, indecent assault and even rape.

But only very few of them have filed official complaints with the city’s Complaints Against Police Office, the Independent Police Complaints Council or law enforcement agencies, saying they have lost trust in the impartiality of the government-controlled entities.

The five listed the abuses they had experienced and explained why they were speaking up. “What happened to us should never happen to another person, especially a teenger,” they said.

The 17-year-old girl, who identified herself as K, accused police officers of grabbing her breast and carrying out a strip search on her. K said she considered filing a complaint but feared police officers would take revenge.

“If I filed a complaint, I could be singled out and prosecuted,” K said, adding she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The 20-year-old man, identified as C, alleged that a female police officer hit his buttocks and genitals using a tool during a 20-hour detention at a police station.

Also among the five was a girl whose underpants were exposed as police officers carried her from a protest scene in Tin Shui Wai. She said she had to speak out over the humiliation.

Another alleged victim, known only as Lui, said that she was ordered to be strip-searched, during which a policewoman tapped her inner thighs with a pen and stared at her body teasingly.

The video also described the case of a woman who claimed to have become pregnant after being gang-raped by police officers in September last year. She is identified as X under an anonymity order granted by a court.

After X made a report to the police, Commissioner of Police Chris Tang told a district council in January that she had been “wanted” by police on suspicion of misleading officers. The five said X’s case showed the Hong Kong police could not be trusted.

In a reply to Apply Daily’s enquiries over the allegations, the police said only that any person could file a complaint to their Complaints Against Police Office.

The police also said that during a body search, apart from officers responsible for conducting it, at least one other person of the same sex as the arrested person would be present to witness or monitor the process.

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