Hong Kong leaders apologise for water cannon use at mosque

Hong Kong officials apologised to Muslim leaders Monday after riot police sprayed a mosque and bystanders with a water cannon while trying to contain turbulent weekend pro-democracy demonstrations in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The city's leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and the police chief visited the Kowloon Mosque to apologise to the chief imam and Muslim community leaders.

Officials were scrambling to minimise the fallout from Sunday's incident at one of the city's most well-known religious sites.

The government said in a statement that Lam "extended an apology for the inadvertent spraying."
"To any people or any groups that were affected, we offer our genuine apologies," said Cheuk Hau-yip, the Kowloon West regional commander. "We certainly do not have any malicious intent."
"The police have got out of hand and they seem not to be answerable to anybody."