Tear gas fired during Hong Kong protest
POLICE fired tear gas at protesters in Hong Kong yesterday for the second night in a row in another escalation of pro-democracy demonstrations.
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 crowd marched east down a wide thoroughfare 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 police moves to clear them.
Some nearby stores shut down early as police in riot gear gathered nearby ahead of the all-but-inevitable clearance operation.
Hong Kong has been disrupted by protests for seven weeks, as opposition to an extradition bill has morphed into demands for the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam, and an investigation into whether police have used excessive force in quelling the protests.