Shops trashed in Hong Kong strife

Hong Kong police and protesters exchanged teargas and petrol bombs as an illegal antigovernment march that attracted tens of thousands descended into chaos, with hundreds of shops trashed, and Chinese banks and metro stations targeted.

After two weeks of relative calm, the rally showed the prodemocracy campaign had not lost support and that hardcore protesters would continue clashing with police.

Protesters threw petrol bombs at the Tsim Sha Tsui police station on Kowloon peninsula after police fired volleys of teargas to disperse demonstrators on the street.

Other black-clad protesters erected fiery barriers on Nathan Road, a major retail strip, as scores of riot police marched towards them.

Police used water cannon trucks to disperse protesters, spraying jets of blue dye into the crowds.

It was the heaviest use of cannons and many people hit with the water developed coughs, suggesting an irritant may have been mixed in.

As riot police advanced, protesters fell back to their next barricade.

Protesters trashed metro stations, hundreds of shops and also Chinese banks.

By nightfall protesters had also set alight numerous road barriers, police said.

Hong Kong has been battered by months of violent protests over concerns Beijing is tightening its grip on the city, the worst political crisis since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

Police had declared Sunday’s march illegal due to concerns over public safety, but protesters believed the authorities’ refusal to issue the permit was an attempt to limit demonstrators’ numbers.

“The government pretends we just want to destroy the city,” Ray, 24, who refused to give his full name, said.

“We’ll be out for as long as it takes to let the world know it is them who are destroying it.”