Hong Kong protesters, ignoring calls to stand down, flood downtown

HONG KONG — For the second day in a row, thousands rallied Sunday in Hong Kong to protest mob violence and what they say is police brutality against peaceful marchers. And for the second consecutive day, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the throngs.

On Saturday, riot police officers unleashed pepper spray and rubber bullets and clashed briefly with demonstrators in a train station in a northern town. Barely 24 hours later, clashes erupted again that turned parts of downtown Hong Kong into a tear-gas-filled battlefield as riot officers beat back demonstrators who tried to approach the Chinese government’s representative office in the territory.

Police on Sunday fired dozens of rounds of tear gas starting from about 7 p.m. and charged protesters, sending hundreds of bystanders who were watching nearby scrambling for shelter. Groups of riot officers with clubs chased black-clad protesters down alleys in the dense urban district.

In some areas, as police sought to disperse the

demonstrators, officers beat them with batons and shields, pressed them to the ground and handcuffed them. Some protesters appeared injured. Police said protesters had thrown bricks and other hard objects as they charged police lines.

“I am really shocked,” said Isaac Chan, a lawyer who lives near the liaison office, saying he was upset

about the police response and the use of tear gas.

Chan, 36, said he supported the protesters but had not participated in any demonstrations. “It is complete violence by the police,” he said. “Ridiculous.”

It was the third straight weekend that violent clashes had broken out since the demonstrations began nearly two months

ago over an unpopular bill, since shelved, that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. Since then, the demonstrations have grown into almost daily public displays of vitriol against the police, Hong Kong’s leaders and the government in Beijing, throwing Hong Kong into its worst political crisis since it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

AP PHOTO/VINCENT YU Protesters carry U.S. flags and placards Sunday during a protest march in Hong Kong, A sea of black-shirted protesters, some with bright yellow helmets and masks but many with just backpacks, marched down a major street in central Hong Kong on Sunday in the latest rally in what has become a summer of protest.