HK, Chile, Iraq rocked by protests
HONG KONG: Hong Kong police fired tear gas into a park to break up thousands of anti-government protesters who fled to the Central business district, setting fire to street barricades and metro stations in some of the worst violence in months of unrest.
Central, its streets lined with banks and top-end jewellery and fashion stores, became a battlefield after night fell, with running clashes between police and blackclad, masked activists.
Police responded with tear gas on what was the 22nd straight weekend of protests. TV footage showed smashed glass windows of China’s local branch of the Xinhua news agency.
Protesters also gathered across the harbour in the hotel and shopping district of Tsim She Tsui, at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula, with scores of passengers on the Star Ferry chanting “Hong Kong people resist”. Hundreds gathered outside the Kowloon mosque on Nathan Road shouting “fight for freedom”.
PRESSURE BUILDS ON CHILEAN GOVERNMENT SANTIAGO: Dressed in black, marching silently and raising one fist, around a thousand women on Friday demanded justice for those killed and injured during the last two weeks of social unrest in Chile. Santiago authorities said the protest in the city drew about 20,000 demonstrators.
IRAQI PROTESTERS AND SECURITY FORCES FIGHT BASRA,IRAQ: Thousands of protesters were blocking all roads leading to Iraq’s main Gulf port Umm Qasr on Saturday, after security forces used live rounds and tear gas on them overnight.
Operations at the port have been at a complete standstill since Wednesday.