Disband the police over teen’s shooting, urge fellow protesters

withdrawal of the extradition bill that prompted mass protests in June. The others are an independent inquiry into police brutality, an amnesty for all arrested protesters, a retraction of the police claim that protesters were rioters and fully democratic elections.

Protesters in Sha Tin on the mainland side of the city went a step further, chanting ‘‘six demands, not one less’’. A banner called for agencies such as the customs department to take over police duties until an independent commission had completed an investigation.

Resentment towards the police force rose again at the news that an Indonesian journalist had been permanently blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet. A lawyer for Veby Indah said that she had been wearing a vest identifying her as a member of the press.

On Tuesday Tsang Chikin, 18, a secondary school pupil, was shot with a live round by police in Tsuen Wan.

His condition has improved after surgeons removed the bullet from his chest but the incident has fuelled demands for resistance against the police.

Stephen Lo, the police commissioner, defended the shooting as ‘‘reasonable and lawful’’. He described Tuesday as the ‘‘most violent and most chaotic day’’ yet. Police arrested 269 protesters.

Lo said that after the teenager had been shot he was arrested on a charge of assaulting police officers. The officer had ‘‘felt that his life and a colleague’s life were under threat’’, he added. ‘‘The officer had no other choice but to use the weapon.’’

Twenty-five officers were injured yesterday.

The Junior Police Officer’s Association has called for colonial-era emergency regulations and a curfew. – The Times