Hong Kong riot police, protesters clash
HONG KONG: Hong Kong riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged protesters who retaliated with a barrage of stones, bottles and bamboo poles, as a standoff in a working-class district yesterday descended into violence, breaking an uneasy peace that had lasted several days.
Thousands of demonstrators, many wearing hard hats and gas masks, marched through the industrial Kwun Tong area, where they were blocked by dozens of officers with shields and batons outside a police station.
Frontline protesters pulled together a barricade of traffic barriers and bamboo construction poles, spraypainting walls with insults directed at the police.
As the afternoon wore on some fired stones from slingshots, prompting a charge from police wielding batons and pepper spray.
Tears gas swept across the road as protesters retreated, leaving a trail of broken bottles and at least one small fire in their wake.
Several of the black-clad protesters were detained as officers swept through, with police justifying their charge on “a large group of violent protesters” who had set fires and hurled bricks at cops.
Tension flickered throughout yesterday’s march, where dozens of the most radical demonstrators known as “braves” had gathered, battle-hardened by a threemonth street campaign.
“I understand being peaceful will not solve the problem,” 19year-old student protester Ryan told AFP, giving one name.
“The government won’t respond to peaceful protest. If I am arrested it is because I come out to speak for justice.”
The city had appeared to have pulled back from a sharp nosedive into violence, with the last serious clashes taking place a week and a half ago just after protests paralysed the financial hub’s airport.
Hundreds of thousands marched peacefully last Sunday, as a key protest group sought to regain the moral high ground in a city shocked at the level of violence.
But yesterday’s face-off underscored the dangerous deadlock into which the city has sunk – with the government unmoving in the face of protester demands, and demonstrators stubbornly refusing to leave the streets.
As evening fell, scores of “braves” dug up bricks and tied metal barriers together a few hundred metres from the police as they appeared to dig in for more clashes.
One frontline protester explained his motivation for joining the street struggle.
“The government chose not to solve the problem through communicating with the protesters. I don’t see our future facing this regime, so gradually I stepped closer and closer to the front line,” Lueng told AFP.
Protesters say Hong Kong’s unique freedoms are in jeopardy as Beijing tightens its political chokehold on the city.