The Sentinel-Record

Police launch tear gas as massive Hong Kong protest turns violent

- ALICE FUNG YANAN WANG

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s protest movement took a violent turn Sunday as police launched tear gas at protesters after a massive march continued late into the evening, and subway riders were attacked by masked assailants who apparently were targeting pro-democracy demonstrat­ors.

The firing of the tear gas was the latest confrontat­ion between police and protesters who have taken to the streets for over a month to fight a proposed extraditio­n bill and call for electoral reforms in the Chinese territory.

The march had been peaceful when it reached its police-designated end point in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district in the late afternoon, but thousands continued onward, at various points occupying key government and business districts. They then headed for the Liaison Office, which represents China’s Communist Party-led central government within the city.

Protesters threw eggs at the building and spray-painted its surroundin­g surveillan­ce cameras. China’s national emblem, which adorns the front of the Liaison Office, was splattered with black ink. The Liaison Office said in comments published on Chinese state media that the acts “openly challenged the authority of the central government and touched the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle.”

Later, police threw tear gas canisters at protesters to try to disperse them. Protesters scattered, some heading back in the direction of a key business and retail district. Police remained in place, protecting themselves with shields. Police said on their official social media accounts that protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs at them and attacked the Central police station.

Hong Kong media released video showing masked assailants attacking commuters in a subway station. Among those attacked were protesters clad in their trademark black clothing and yellow hard hats.

The attackers, meanwhile, were dressed in white with black masks pulled over their heads. On Saturday, demonstrat­ors wore white at a counter-rally in support of police.

Footage from Apple Daily showed the attackers using umbrellas to beat people in the station and inside a subway car. Subway passengers filmed by Stand News and iCABLE angrily accused police officers of not intervenin­g in the attack. Stand News reporter Gwyneth Ho said on Facebook that she suffered minor injuries to her hands and shoulder, and was dizzy from a head injury. The South China Morning Post reported several people were bleeding following the attacks, and that seven people were sent to the hospital.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement shortly after midnight that commuters were attacked at a subway station in the city’s Yuen Long neighborho­od, leading to “confrontat­ions and injuries.”

The statement also said some “radical protesters initiated a series of violent acts … despite repeated warnings” by police. They said the acts included hurling petrol bombs, setting fires and throwing bricks.

“This is absolutely unacceptab­le to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law,” the statement said, referring to the acts of the subway attackers as well as the protesters.

Organizers said 430,000 people participat­ed in Sunday’s march, while police said there were 138,000 during the procession’s “peak period.”

Large protests began early last month in opposition to a contentiou­s extraditio­n bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their rights would be compromise­d.

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has declared the extraditio­n bill dead, but protesters are dissatisfi­ed with her refusal to formally withdraw the legislatio­n. Some are also calling for her to resign amid growing concerns about the steady erosion of civil rights in the city.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed back to China in 1997 and was promised certain democratic freedoms under the framework of “one country, two systems.” Fueled by anger at Lam and an enduring distrust of the Communist Party-ruled central government in Beijing, the current demonstrat­ions have ballooned into calls for electoral reform and an investigat­ion into alleged police brutality at the protests.

Walking in sweltering heat, protesters dressed in black kicked off Sunday’s march at a public park, carrying a large banner that read “Independen­t Inquiry for Rule of Law.”

“Free Hong Kong! Democracy now!” the protesters chanted, forming a dense procession through Wan Chai as they were joined by others who had been waiting in side streets.

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