In a radio programme on Monday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said he respected the investigation findings of CAPO to list the case as "unsubstantiated" and believed the officer's action was out of protecting citizens.

"There is room for improvement in the measures of law enforcement to deal with these kinds of cases, and the officer involved has been reprimanded," he said.

"But reprimanding didn't mean the officer's action was wrong," said Tang, noting CAPO's investigation finding should be respected.

Tang's speech came after a former journalist of Commercial Radio filed a complaint to CAPO alleging an officer shot him in his backpack during the protest in November 2019.

According to the findings, CAPO considered the action of the police to fire a sponge round at the former journalist of Commercial Radio in his backpack was "not unreasonable".

CAPO said that the officer had warned the journalist to leave the scene in advance when they were driving away the protesters at Mong Kok, but the journalist refused and hit one officer's hand and then fled away, causing the officer to fire a sponge round.

However, the journalist involved told Commercial Radio on Sunday the findings did not correspond to facts.

It was the police who took the initiative to reach out to him and fire at him in the backpack claiming to arrest him, the journalist said, adding he turned back to the officer and showed his identity.

"I will seek a review of CAPO's investigation findings," he added.