63 more arrested in HK

Hong Kong police said yesterday that 63 people were arrested for rioting on Saturday.

According to the police, 54 men and nine women, aged 13 to 36, were arrested for offenses including unlawful assembly and possession of explosives and offensive weapons.

The police had rejected the application of a public procession on the Hong Kong Island on Saturday to ensure the safety of residents and public order after several similar events since early June turned violent.

However, protesters on Saturday defied the police ban by occupying downtown roads. During their marches, some radical protesters smashed traffic lights and dismantled roadside railings to set up barricades to confront the police.

Black-clad rioters who wore mask and helmet attempted to storm the headquarter buildings of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Legislative Council, used slingshots to fire petrol bombs and other objects into the buildings before they set fires on a main street near the Hong Kong police headquarters.

Rioters confronted police in various areas on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories, hurled petrol bombs in different places, and attacked police officers with corrosive liquid and bricks. They also set fires in different places, vandalized public property, set up barricades, and damaged facilities at MTR stations such as platform screen doors.

(Xinhua)