VIOLENCE BRINGS HONG KONG TO ‘BRINK OF TOTAL BREAKDOWN’

HONG KONG—HONG Kong police fired tear gas in the heart of the Central financial district and at two university campuses to break up prodemocracy protests as violence was bringing the Chinese-ruled city to what they said was the “brink of total breakdown.”

The clashes came a day after police shot a protester at close range and a man was doused with gasoline and set on fire in some of the worst violence in the former British colony in decades.

A flash mob of more than 1,000 protesters, many wearing office clothes and face masks, rallied in Central for a second day during lunch hour, blocking roads below some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers and most expensive real estate.

After they had dispersed, police fired tear gas at the remaining protesters on old, narrow Pedder Street. Police made more than a dozen arrests, many pinned up on the pavement against the wall of luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.

Police vans surged into the area and officers took up positions in a standoff with protesters just an hour or so before office workers were due to start leaving for home.

“Our society has been pushed to the brink of a total breakdown,” a police spokesperson told a briefing, referring to the last two days of violence.