Firebombs, tear gas, water canon: HK descends into chaos

HONGKONG: Hong Kong protesters again flooded streets on Sunday, ignoring a police ban on the rally and setting up barricades amid tear gas and firebombs.

Protest leaders carried a black banner at the front of the procession with a slogan, “Five main demands, not one less,” as they pressed their calls for accountability and political rights.

Black-clad and masked protesters barricaded streets at multiple locations in Kowloon, where the city’s subway operator restricted passenger access. A firebomb was tossed at one subway station.

The protesters tore up paving stones from the sidewalk and scattered them on the road, commandeered plastic safety barriers and unscrewed metal railings to form makeshift roadblocks.

Police fired tear gas after firebombs were thrown toward one station as tens of thousands of demonstrators marched down a main road with traffic at a standstill. They sang along to the protest movement’s anthem and held up placards depicting the Chinese flag as a Nazi swastika.

Matthew lee, a university student, said he was determined to keep protesting even after five months. Police had beefed up security measures for the unauthorised rally, the latest in the 5-month-old unrest rocking the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

Many of the supporters of the movement wore masks in defiance of a recently introduced ban on face coverings at public gatherings, and volunteers handed more out to the crowd.