HK ACTIVISTS VANDALIZE SUBWAY AFTER AIRPORT PLAN SCUPPERED

HONG Kong—police fired tear gas at protesters inside a mall in Sha Tin district on Sunday after they vandalized a nearby subway station and defaced the Chinese flag.

The protesters had planned to disrupt operations at the airport but the authorities reduced rail and bus links and stepped up security checks to scupper any protest attempt.

The airport—the world’s eighth busiest—has become a frequent target for demonstrators pushing for greater democratic rights and police accountability.

Instead, thousands gathered inside a mall in the northern town of Sha Tin to sing protest songs and make origami cranes, the latest rally in what had now been 16 consecutive weekends of protests.

Business shutdown

Many shops inside the mall shuttered but the unsanctioned rally remained civil for much of the afternoon until tension rose in the afternoon.

At one point, masked activists paraded a Chinese flag through the mall that had been torn down from a nearby government building. It was later thrown into a nearby river.

Vandalism

Groups of masked activists then vandalized ticket machines in Sha Tin’s subway station before riot police rushed in to close the station down, and a standoff ensued.

Before police arrived, local television networks showed footage of a man with bruises and cuts to his face being harangued by protesters inside the station.

Increasingly brutal fights between opposing sides have broken out in recent weeks—a vivid illustration of the ideological fissures now running through the international finance hub.

Bigger in October

On Saturday, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse activists in two towns near the border with China.

This weekend’s protest crowds have been noticeably smaller than earlier rallies but more protests are planned next weekend and on Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of communist China.