UNDER SIEGE Hong Kong protests flare, cops clear streets
HONG KONG — Police used force early Tuesday to clear thousands of protesters in and around Hong Kong’s Legislature after some broke into the complex and occupied it Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the semi-autonomous city’s return to Chinese rule.
The escalation has brought Hong Kong into unprecedented and uncertain territory, and represents the biggest test of Beijing’s grip over the global financial hub and the status under which it operates.
Protesters on Monday smashed their way through metal barricades and glass doors surrounding Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. As they wrote graffiti on walls, tore down portraits of proBeijing officials and emptied rooms of chairs and desks, the mostly young protesters escalated weeks of tensions and massive demonstrations here to a new level.
The demonstrators occupying the complex penned a declaration that included a call for overthrowing the “puppet Legislative Council and the Government,” and they vowed to stay. But just after midnight Tuesday, police equipped with riot shields, tear gas and other projectiles began ejecting protesters from streets surrounding the complex, sending them fleeing. Police then retook the complex, stopping and frisking the young protesters who remained nearby.
More than 500,000 demonstrators, meanwhile, marched peacefully across the city Monday and forced major thoroughfares to shut down.
The scenes of defiance were the latest indication that anger here, sparked by plans to allow extraditions to China but now incorporating broader concerns about Hong Kong’s autonomy and Beijing’s influence, will not be easily quelled.
The protesters smashed shutters, broke windows and ripped down metal fencing around the Legislative Council, eventually forcing their way into the building. Protesters repeatedly tried to slam against metal shutters and pry them open as riot police stood guard.
At some point during the night, police appeared to vacate their posts. By 9:30 p.m., dozens of demonstrators wearing yellow hard hats and carrying umbrellas had entered the building and were roaming the complex. Outside, protesters cheered as more windows and doors were smashed open.
Later Monday night, police said the building was “violently attacked” and “illegally entered.” In a tweet, they warned that they would conduct a sweep with “reasonable force” and urged people to leave the area.
The Hong Kong government in a statement also condemned the “violent acts,” which it said was the work of “radical protesters.”