Clashes erupt as protesters demand rights
HONG KONG — Clashes broke out between protesters and police in Hong Kong on Sunday, cutting short a rally after thousands had gathered at a park to call for electoral reforms and a boycott of the Chinese Communist Party.
Police fired tear gas near the park, known as Chater Garden, after some protesters attacked men whom they believed to be plainclothes officers, in a return to the violence that has roiled the Chinese territory off and on for months.
Sporting their movement’s trademark black clothing and face masks, rally participants had earlier packed into Chater Garden, located near the city’s Legislative Council building.
“We want real universal suffrage,” the protesters chanted. “Disband the police force, free Hong Kong!”
Ventus Lau, the rally’s organizer, was arrested in the evening for allegedly breaching the authorities’ conditions for the event and repeatedly obstructing officers, said police officer Ng Lokchun.
Earlier, Lau said he believes more largescale protests are needed for global attention to return to Hong Kong, with the protest movement losing some of its momentum in recent weeks.
“I think Hong Kong has not been the focus of the world anymore,” he said, urging other countries to impose sanctions against Hong Kong’s government if it does not allow residents to directly elect Legislative Council members this year.
A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. While the framework of “one country, two systems” promises the city greater democratic rights than are afforded in the mainland, protesters say their freedoms have been steadily eroding under
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Frictions between democracyminded Hong Kongers and the Communist Partyruled central government in Beijing came to a head last June, when proposed extradition legislation sparked months of mass demonstrations.
The bill — which would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China to stand trial — has been withdrawn, but the protests have continued for more than seven months, centered around demands for voting rights and an independent inquiry into police conduct.
While the protests began peacefully, they increasingly descended into violence after demonstrators became frustrated with the government’s response.