Hong Kong violence spirals as police shoot protester, man set alight
HONG KONG – Two people were in critical condition following a citywide strike in Hong Kong that devolved into chaotic scenes of flaming barricades and tear gas after a protester was shot in the torso by a police officer.
At an impromptu press conference late Monday, the territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said more than 60 people were admitted to hospital.
A protester who had been shot by police and another man who was set on fire by a protester were both in critical condition, the Hospital Authority said.
A video circulating online showed a police officer shooting a protester at close range in the chest on Monday morning. The protester, who appears unarmed, then slumps to the ground.
Police asserted that the traffic officer who fired his gun “did not have bad intentions to hurt anyone.”
It was third time police have shot someone since the protests broke out in June.
Video of the second violent incident shows the victim arguing with people with anti-government views. A masked, black-clad protester then douses him with liquid and lights him on fire.
Lam condemned violent protesters, saying that their actions are bringing Hong Kong “to the brink of no return.”
She issued a warning to protesters: “If there is still any wishful thinking that by escalating violence, the Hong Kong SAR Government will yield to pressure to satisfy the socalled political demands, I am making the statement clear and loud – that will not happen.”
SAR stands for Special Administrative Region, which denotes Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status within China.
The shooting spurred online speculation that restrictions on officers using firearms were relaxed in order to curb Monday’s strike, but police denied this in a statement.
The police said shooting will be internally investigated, as will a second incident in which an officer repeatedly drove his motorcycle through a group of retreating protesters, in what appeared to be an attempt to hit them.
The strike was meant to call attention to the death of a student protester, which many residents believe was indirectly caused by police as they dispersed an illegal assembly last week.
Police deployed a water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets and made arrests in several districts as protests carried on into the evening on Monday.
In a statement, police said “rioters” had inflicted extensive damage to public and private property and set up barricades and blocked roads in over 120 locations.
In the Sai Wan Ho district, where the shooting occurred, angry residents and protesters set up barricades, lit fires, and vandalized a metro station. Police fired tear gas and pepper spray in response.
Police also fired tear gas in the middle of the day in Central, the heart of Hong Kong’s financial district, where many office workers without gear had assembled on Monday to strike in solidarity with black-clad anti-government protesters.
By midday, train lines and buses were crippled by the disruptions. Protesters threw petrol bombs into a train carriage for the first time according to police. The carriage appeared to be empty in video footage of the incident.