The parents of a 2-year-old toddler boy who allowed their child to urinate on a busy Hong Kong street defended their decision after two local Hong Kongers confronted them.
The incident caused the visiting couple and two male locals to get into a scuffle. The men, along with some local Hong Kongers, felt the act was disrespectful and uncivilized.
The aftermath of the boy’s elimination was recorded and has been causing increased tensions among an already strained relationship between China mainlanders and some Hong Kong islanders. According to the South China Morning Post, protesters have gathered in Hong Kong over the last few months in opposition to China mainlanders converging upon their cities with what they consider to be undesirable behavior.
Some local witnesses lashed out at the parents for letting their son use busy Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok as a toilet.
The boy’s parents started to argue with two males who confronted the parents.
The boy’s mother was heard angrily asking one of the men, “The kid was going to pee in his pants, what do you want me do?”
The mother went on to ask, “Do you have a kid? Do your children take pees?” She also explained to a crowd that had formed that she went in search of a public toilet but the line was too long.
The couple and the male locals started to get into a physical altercation after the couple tried to take the memory card from one of the mens cameras. One of the men held on to the couple’s stroller while the other called police. The boy’s mother was arrested on theft charges, her husband was taken into the police station but was not charged. Both the woman and her husband were later released but the woman is due back court sometime in May pending an investigation.