Hong Kong protesters erect roadblocks in clashes with police
● Demonstrators’ placards depict Chinese flag as Nazi swastika
Hong Kong streets descended into chaotic scenes following an unauthorised pro-democracy rally yesterday as protesters set up roadblocks and torched businesses and police responded with tear gas and a water cannon.
Protesters tossed firebombs and took their anger out on shops with mainland Chinese ties as they skirmished late into the evening with riot police, who unleashed numerous tear gas rounds on short notice, angering residents and passers-by.
Police had beefed up security measures ahead of the rally, for which they refused to give permission, the latest chapter in the unrest that has disrupted life in the financial hub since early June.
Some 24 people were hurt and treated at hospitals, including six with serious injuries, the Hospital Authority said.
Police did not give an arrest figure. One person was seen being handcuffed and taken away to a police van.
As the rally march set off, protest leaders carried a black banner that read, “Five main demands, not one less,” as they pressed their calls for police accountability and political rights in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Supporters sang the protest movement’s anthem, waved colonial and US flags, and held up placards depicting the Chinese flag as a Nazi swastika.
At the Tsim Sha Tsui police station, officers fired tear gas as the building’s gate was set on fire, before deploying a water cannon to clear the area.
Hong Kong has witnessed pro-democracy protests for more than four months. The unrest in the territory, which is part of China but enjoys unique freedoms, has been the worst crisis since the British handover in 1997.
Matthew Lee, a university student, said he was determined to keep protesting even after more than four months. “I can see some people want to give up, but I don’t want to do this because Hong Kong is my home. We want to protect this place, protect Hong Kong,” he said. “You can’t give up because Hong Kong is your home.”
Many of the protesters wore masks in defiance of a recently introduced ban on face coverings at public gatherings, and volunteers handed more out to the crowd.
Organisers said they wanted to use their right to protest as guaranteed by the city’s constitution despite the risk of arrest.
“We’re using peaceful, rational, non-violent ways to voice our demands,” Figo Chan, vice-convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, said. “We’re not afraid of being arrested. What I’m most scared of is everyone giving up on our principles.”
The group has organised some of the movement’s biggest protest marches. One of its leaders, Jimmy Sham, was attacked on Wednesday by assailants wielding hammers. On Saturday, Hong Kong police arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing a teenage activist who was distributing leaflets near a wall plasteredwithpro-democracy messages. A witness told local broadcaster RTHK that the assailant shouted afterwards that Hong Kong is “a part of China” and other pro-beijing messages.
The movement sprang out of opposition to a government proposal for an extradition bill that would have sent suspects to stand trial in mainland China, and then ballooned into broader demands for full democracy and an inquiry into police brutality.
Numbers attending protests have dropped from their peak. The movement has seen hundreds of thousands taking part in demonstrations on several occasions.
The protests were prompted by concern that a new law would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China, but have since grown into a wider protest for democracy and against Chinese control.