Prohibiting the Commercial Export of Covered Munitions Items to the Hong Kong Police Force

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, on June 9, the streets of Hong Kong filled with over 1 million individuals peacefully protesting what they saw as an unjust law and attack on democracy. It was an incredible visual of people standing up for democracy and standing up for human rights.

Here we are 5 months later, and the images are much different. You would be forgiven if you saw them and thought they were in a war zone. Hundreds of student protesters barricaded themselves in a Hong Kong university surrounded by armored riot police, pummeled by rubber bullets and tear gas, fires raging, destruction, devastation, and smoke everywhere.

There have been 5 months of protests, rising anger, and tension. There have been 5 months of police crackdowns on peaceful protests, spurring further protests and resistance, and U.S.-made, U.S.-exported police equipment being misused by the Hong Kong police to violate the human rights of protesters. So far, over 10,000 rounds of tear gas have been fired into the crowds of protesters.

We believe in free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to protest, not state-sponsored oppression and violence. It is time to ban the export of U.S.-made police equipment to Hong Kong that is being used to abuse their human rights. That is why I am so pleased to introduce, in partnership with my colleague from Texas, S. 2710, which prohibits the export of munitions and crowd-control equipment to the Hong Kong Police Force.

Since the protests in June, over 1,700 Hong Kong residents have been injured and over 5,000 have been arrested. Amnesty International verified incidents involving the dangerous use of U.S.-made pepper spray, batons used to beat protesters, rubber bullets, and tear gas. One young woman was clubbed from behind with a police baton and continued to be beaten even after she was on the ground with her arms zip-tied behind her.

We have seen tear gas fired into confined spaces, in violation of the U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms. We have seen brutal police tactics that continued even when women and men were held in captivity or in custody. There has been report after report of violent assaults taking place inside police stations.

We cannot turn a blind eye. It is time to stand with the people of Hong Kong who are demanding a democratic future and against the violent suppression of free speech.

The bill the Senator from Texas and I have introduced lays out a series of products that we will no longer export to the Hong Kong Police Force: tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, foam and bean bag rounds, pepper balls, water cannons, handcuffs, shackles, stun guns, and tasers.

This bill is backed by many colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I say a huge thank-you to Senator Markey, Senator Blackburn, Senator Leahy, Senator Scott, Senator Coons, Senator Wicker, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Inhofe, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Cardin, Senator Wyden, Senator Braun, Senator Gardner, and Senator Van Hollen.

I am really proud to stand here in a bipartisan representation tonight, to stand with my colleagues who have introduced the Hong Kong Human Rights Democracy Act, and to stand together in a bipartisan fashion to ban the export of these brutal crowd-control strategies being misused in Hong Kong by their police to abuse the protesters.

I turn to my colleague from Texas.

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Mr. MERKLEY. 2710 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
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