A 14-year-old girl in Hong Kong arrested for scribbling graffiti on a wall famous for pro-democracy messages has been put into a children's home, her lawyer says.
The girl was detained by police for chalking a flower on the "Lennon Wall", a staircase at the main Admiralty protest site which became plastered with brightly-coloured notes of support for the democracy movement during more than two months of rallies.
Notes and messages have sporadically been posted on the wall since the protest sites were cleared earlier in December.
The teenager was arrested in the early hours of December 23 after scribbling on the wall and was detained for 17 hours, said solicitor Patricia Ho.
She was sent to a children's home on Monday for three weeks while a court considers an application for a care and protection order by police which could see her removed from her father's care, said Ho, who described the move as "disproportionate" and "shocking".
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The girl has been in trouble with police before, said Ho, but she added that there was "no evidence to say that she is not well taken care of" at home.
In a separate case, a 14-year-old boy could also be removed from his parents following his arrest as police cleared the Mongkok protest camp in late November.
Police have applied for a care and protection order for him.
"These types of orders are usually sought in extreme cases, for example (if) the child is on drugs, or trading drugs, or prostituting themselves," Ho told AFP.
"It's a very worrying trend ... It's imposing a climate of fear."
