Hong Kong police fire rubber bullets, tear gas as protests descend into chaos

HONG KONG, (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in running clashes with protesters late yesterday amid chaotic scenes as anger over an extradition bill morphs into a fresh front against what many see as a broader erosion of freedoms by Beijing.

Thousands of protesters descended on China’s representative office in the city, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing, just hours after the latest demonstrations to rock the Asian financial central.

Millions have taken to the streets in the past two months in an unprecedented show of force against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, triggering the worst social turmoil to rock the former British colony since it returned to Chinese rule 22 years ago.

Black-clad activists, many wearing masks, defied police orders and marched beyond the official endpoint of a rally that took place earlier in the day as they made their way towards the Liaison Office, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.

When asked whether the protesters would attempt to force entry into the building, one 30-year-old man dressed head to toe in black said “No”, as he mimicked a throat-slitting action.

“That would be the death of Hong Kong,” he added.

Some protesters pelted eggs at the walls of Beijing’s Liaison Office, while others spray-painted graffiti as they kept up pressure on the city’s beleaguered government to heed their calls for an independent inquiry into complaints of police brutality during recent demonstrations, among other demands.

Hundreds of riot police faced off with protesters more than a kilometre from the Liaison Office, firing tear gas as police and ambulance sirens echoed through the chanting crowds. Local broadcaster RTHK and other local media reported police also fired rubber bullets. Police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Activists had daubed graffiti on massive concrete pillars leading up to Beijing’s Liaison Office, with the words “Restore Hong Kong, Revolution of The Time”.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement it strongly condemned the demonstrators’ “malicious encirclement” of the Liaison Office building, while a spokesman for the office expressed “severe condemnation” at the “radical demonstrators”.