Police fire tear gas as Hong Kong protesters continue marching
Hong Kong police launched tear gas at protesters yesterday after a pro-democracy march continued late into the evening.
The march 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.theythenheadedfor 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.
Later, police threw tear gas canisters at protesters to try to disperse them.
The action was the latest confrontation between police and demonstrators who have taken to the streets to protest an extradition bill and call for electoral reforms in the Chinese territory.
Organisers said 430,000 people participated in the march, while police said there were 138,000 during the procession’s “peak period.”
Large protests began early last month in Hong Kong 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 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.
Walking in sweltering heat, protesters dressed in black kicked off their 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 procession through Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district as they were joined by others who had been waiting in side streets.
“I think the government has never responded to our demands,” said Karen Yu, a 52-year-old Hong Kong resident who has attended four protests since they started.
“No matter how much the government can do, at least it should come out and respond to us directly.”
Marchers ignored orders from police to finish off the procession on a road in Wan Chai, according to police and the Civil Human Rights Front, the march’s organisers.
Protesters repeated the five points of their “manifesto”, first introduced when a small group of them stormed the legislature. Their main demands include universal suffrage and dropping charges against antiextradition protesters.