Hong Kong's expat police become focus of protester rage

A peculiar legacy of Hong Kong's colonial past has emerged as a focal point of rage for anti-government protesters: a dwindling band of expat police officers now vilified for doing the bidding of the city's pro-Beijing leaders.

Hong Kong's 32,000-strong police force have found themselves fighting unprecedented running battles with protesters for the past five weeks following a huge backlash to a now-suspended plan to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.

The crisis -- which has since morphed into a wider anti-government movement -- has placed officers in the firing line of public anger as the city's leaders appear unable, or unwilling, to offer any political solution.

But among those singled out for specific retribution include a small group of expatriates who were some of the commanding officers on the frontlines during clashes where tear gas and rubber bullets were fired.

Their personal details were published online after they appeared in the media and were also named by a British lawmaker in parliament.

Wanted posters made by protesters have sprung up across the city targeting two
"But it's not just them. Their kids have been targeted at school by bullies, a wife was approached in a supermarket and abused. That cannot be pleasant for anybody."
"How much of that is bravado, how much they really believe it, I don't know."
"In Paris or New York we'd have seen way more injuries, fractured skulls and broken bones."