Hong Kong's police force has been accused of using "retaliatory violence" by torturing or ill-treating suspected anti-government protesters, according to an investigation by a human rights group.
The findings released on Friday by Amnesty International included interviews with 21 people arrested but later released.
They claimed they were punched or severely beaten by officers with batons even when they did not put up any resistance. Others told the rights watchdog they were assaulted or threatened at police stations.
Anger at the police's use of force in the monthslong protests has continued to be a key driver of the protest movement.
Protesters have focused on demanding accountability and democracy after the Hong Kong authorities acceded to their call to withdraw a contentious extradition plan.
In the Amnesty International report, 18 out of 21 interviewees were sent to hospital after injuries sustained allegedly in arrests, with three kept in wards for at least five days.
"The Hong Kong police's heavy-handed crowd-control response on the streets has been live-streamed for the world to see. Much less visible is the plethora of police abuse against protesters that has taken place out of sight," said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director of the group.
"This has included arbitrary arrests and retaliatory violence against arrested persons in custody, some of which amounted to torture."
The city's officers have come under fire for their handling of the political crisis, sparked in June by a government plan to allow extraditions to mainland China.
Protesters feared that the move could erode the political firewall between Beijing and Hong Kong. The former British colony was guaranteed a high degree of autonomy when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The protests have since morphed into an anti-government movement, with clashes between demonstrators and police becoming more violent.
The cases cited by Amnesty International included a man arrested last month, who claimed he was beaten by officers in a police station after he refused to answer a question.
"One (officer) flipped me over and put his knees on my chest. I felt pain in my bones and couldn't breathe," said the man in the report. He was later taken to hospital for several days with a bone fracture and internal bleeding.
He also claimed an officer forced open his eye and pointed a laser pen at it while he was pinned to the ground, asking: "Don't you like to point this at people?"
Laser pointers have been a popular protest prop, with demonstrators repeatedly flashing them at police stations or officers.
A student was arrested last month for carrying laser pointers, which police said were "offensive weapons."
Amnesty said it had documented a pattern of police using unnecessary and excessive force during arrests, with a woman claiming officers had continued to beat her after knocking her to the ground and zip-tying her hands when she was being detained in Sheung Wan in July.
A police spokesman said the force would not comment on individual cases, but said any person in custody who felt aggrieved during the detention period could lodge a complaint.
The United Nations Human Rights Office last month threw its weight behind calls to investigate the use of force by police, citing reports of police use of weapons in ways that defied international norms.
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