Tear gas fired as Hong Kong activists escalate protests
POLICE fired tear gas at protesters in Hong Kong for the second night in a row yesterday as pro-democracy demonstrations escalated.
Protesters occupied two areas at opposite ends of central Hong Kong following a mid-afternoon rally against police use of tear gas the previous Sunday.
As night fell, one group that had blocked a road near the Chinese Government’s liaison office began to move forward. The police issued warnings, and protesters were seen throwing eggs at them. Officers fired tear gas to halt the advance.
Protesters had earlier rallied at a park in Hong Kong’s financial district before marching out in several directions despite not getting police approval for a public procession. It was the second straight day that protesters had taken to the streets without official permission.
A sea of black-shirted protesters, some with bright yellow helmets and masks but many with just backpacks, streamed out of Chater Garden park.
Chanting “add oil”, a phrase that roughly translates as “keep up the fight”, a huge crowd marched east down a wide thor
Riot police during the demonstration yesterday
oughfare in what has become a summer of protest in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. They stopped near the Sogo department store and set up barricades to block off the area and
defend it against police. Another group headed west toward mainland China’s liaison office.
Protesters egged the office last weekend and splattered black ink on the national emblem, eliciting an angry reaction from the Chinese Government.
They stopped about two blocks short of the office and used orange-and-white construction barricades to build a wall spanning a major road.
They massed behind the barriers as night fell, with umbrellas pointed forward to shield their identities and ward off any police move to clear them. Some nearby stores closed early as police in riot gear gathered nearby.
Hong Kong has been racked by protests for seven weeks, as opposition to an extradition bill has morphed into demands for the resignation of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and an investigation into whether police have used excessive force in quelling the protests.
Underlying the movement is a broader push for full democracy in the territory.
“We need to have a protest to show that we are strongly against this kind of brutality and we need them to respond to our demands,” said rally organiser Ventus Lau.
Police had refused Lau’s request to march west to the Sheung Wan district, where the tear gas was used the previous weekend, citing escalating violence in clashes with protesters that have broken out after past marches and rallies.
On Saturday, clashes between protesters and police led to 11 arrests and left at least two dozen injured in Yuen Long, where a mob apparently targeting demonstrators had beaten people brutally in a railway station the previous weekend.
Human rights group Amnesty International called the police response heavy-handed and unacceptable.