Hong Kong police fire rubber bullets, tear gas as protests descend into chaos

[webfact]

Hong Kong police fire rubber bullets, tear gas as protests descend into chaos

By Greg Torode, Clare Jim and Marius Zaharia

 

Anti-extradition demonstrators throw rocks, after a march to call for democratic reforms in Hong Kong, China July 21, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su

 

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in running clashes with protesters late on Sunday amid chaotic scenes as anger over an extradition bill morphs into a fresh front against what many see as a broader erosion of freedoms by Beijing.

 

Thousands of protesters descended on China's representative office in the city, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing, just hours after the latest demonstrations to rock the Asian financial central.

 

Millions have taken to the streets in the past two months in an unprecedented show of force against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, triggering the worst social turmoil to rock the former British colony since it returned to Chinese rule 22 years ago.

 

Black-clad activists, many wearing masks, defied police orders and marched beyond the official end-point of a rally that took place earlier in the day as they made their way towards the Liaison Office, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.

 

When asked whether the protesters would attempt to force entry into the building, one 30-year-old man dressed head to toe in black said "No", as he mimicked a throat-slitting action.

 

"That would be the death of Hong Kong," he added.

 

Hong Kong police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in chaotic scenes late on Sunday as anger over an extradition bill morphs into a fresh front against what many see as a broader erosion of freedoms by the city's political masters in Beijing. Edward Baran reports.

 

Some protesters pelted eggs at the walls of Beijing's Liaison Office, while others spray-painted graffiti as they kept up pressure on the city's beleaguered government to heed their calls for an independent inquiry into complaints of police brutality during recent demonstrations, among other demands.

 

Hundreds of riot police faced off with protesters more than a kilometre from the Liaison Office, firing tear gas as police and ambulance sirens echoed through the chanting crowds. Local broadcaster RTHK and other local media reported police also fired rubber bullets. Police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

 

Activists had daubed graffiti on massive concrete pillars leading up to Beijing's Liaison Office, with the words "Restore Hong Kong, Revolution of The Time".

 

The Hong Kong government said in a statement it strongly condemned the demonstrators' "malicious encirclement" of the Liaison Office building, while a spokesman for the office expressed "severe condemnation" at the "radical demonstrators".

 

Sunday's protest, which had proceeded peacefully along the police-mandated route, is the latest in a series of rallies that have plunged the Chinese-ruled city into political crisis.

 

Some held up banners that said, "LIAR" and "No excuse Carrie Lame". A poster plastered on a lamppost called for an "Investigation on police brutality".

 

More demonstrations are planned over the coming weekends, posing the greatest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he took power in 2012. For Xi's Communist Party in Beijing, stability is an overwhelming priority.

 

PROTESTERS ATTACKED

At a train station in the New Territories district of Yuen Long, screams rang out as protesters who had attended the demonstration were attacked by men in white T-shirts, some armed with poles, as they arrived home.

 

The turmoil comes at a delicate time for Beijing, which is grappling with a trade dispute with the United States, a faltering economy and tensions in the South China Sea.

 

Recent images of police firing rubber bullets and tear gas near the city's financial district as well as chaotic scenes of demonstrators storming the legislature were beamed live to the world - except in mainland China, where they were blocked from many social media sites.

 

Earlier on Sunday, authorities used blue and white water-filled barriers to barricade government and police headquarters, while global bank HSBC <HSBA.L>, in a rare move, pulled down large metal barriers on the street level of its gleaming skyscraper building.

 

While most of the rallies have passed off peacefully during the day, some have erupted into violence late at night when more radical protesters have clashed with police.

 

The city's police force has come under scrutiny after officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas last month to disperse demonstrators in some of the worst violence to roil Hong Kong in decades.

 

The police are struggling to cope amid haphazard decision-making, worsening morale and anger among rank-and-file officers that they are taking the public heat for government unpopularity, serving and retired officers, politicians and security analysts told Reuters.

 

Protest organisers said 430,000 attended Sunday's rally. Police put the number at 138,000 at its peak.

 

"KILL BILL" CALL

The latest protest comes a day after tens of thousands gathered to voice support for the police, whom some have accused of using excessive force against activists, and demand an end to the violence.

 

Sunday's march focused on calls for the full withdrawal of the extradition bill, which would allow people to be extradited to mainland China for trial, and an independent investigation into complaints of police brutality.

 

Other demands include charges against protesters to be dropped and universal suffrage.

 

"I came back to Hong Kong this summer because of the protests," said Mandy Ko, 27, who is originally from Hong Kong and now lives in Australia.

 

"My spirit is still with Hong Kong people."

 

Activists formed human chains as they handed out supplies, including umbrellas, hard hats and even gas masks to protesters.

 

A Reuters reporter received an AirDrop message that said "Be Water", a strategy inspired by a maxim of home-grown martial arts legend Bruce Lee, that encourages protesters to be flexible and retreat strategically.

 

Last weekend, two initially peaceful protests degenerated into running skirmishes between baton-wielding police and activists, resulting in scores of injuries and more than 40 arrests.

 

Those fights followed larger outbreaks of violence in central Hong Kong last month, when police forced back activists with tear gas, rubber bullets and bean-bag rounds.

 

Lam has apologised for the turmoil the extradition bill has caused and declared it "dead". Opponents of the bill, which they fear could be used to silence dissent, say nothing short of its withdrawal will do.

 

Under the terms of the handover from Britain in 1997, Hong Kong was allowed to retain extensive freedoms under a "one country, two systems" formula, including an independent judiciary and the right to protest.

 

But for many Hong Kong residents, the extradition bill is the latest step in a relentless march towards mainland control.

 

The protests have at times paralysed parts of the financial district, shut government offices and disrupted business operations across the city. Officials have also warned about the impact of the unrest on the economy.

 

A commentary published in the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper on Sunday said: "If violence continues, it will inevitably deal a greater blow to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability."

 

China has condemned the violent protests as an "undisguised challenge" to the one country, two systems formula.

 

(Reporting by Greg Torode, Clare Jim, Marius Zaharia, Joel Flynn, Donny Kwok, Felix Tam, Twinnie Siu, Aleksander Solum in HONG KONG; Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Dale Hudson and Louise Heavens)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-22

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[cornishcarlos]

First France, now Hong Kong....

Will the Thais get the idea ??

[Geoffggi]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

China has condemned the violent protests as an "undisguised challenge" to the one country, two systems formula.

Does China not realise this is exactly what the people of Hong Kong are saying about China..?? - Obviously China can dish it out but not take it in response...!!

[arithai12]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Under the terms of the handover from Britain in 1997, Hong Kong was allowed to retain extensive freedoms under a "one country, two systems" formula, including an independent judiciary and the right to protest.

Small detail: until 2046. What happens after that is exactly what all this is about. For generations, HK people have lived knowing that China will take over in a very distant future. Today's young generations are seeing that that future is not so distant.

[Isaan sailor]

Gotta feel for the young HKers.  Perhaps they should protest and negotiate for another 50-year extension...

[mfd101]

The danger is that, as the riots continue, China will have the perfect excuse for military intervention & immediate takeover.

 

Which suggests - or it would if one were sufficiently paranoid - that China could well be provoking further disorders to that end.

[Johnnyngai]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causeway_Bay_Books_disappearances     

 

Four years ago, all five owners of a HK book store was kidnapped from outside China and smuggled into China for interrogation. 

If the new HongKong / China extradition law were to be put in place,

there would be no need to kidnap people such as the five book store owners above.  

 

[Traubert]

57 minutes ago, Johnnyngai said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causeway_Bay_Books_disappearances     

 

Four years ago, all five owners of a HK book store was kidnapped from outside China and smuggled into China for interrogation. 

If the new HongKong / China extradition law were to be put in place,

there would be no need to kidnap people such as the five book store owners above.  

 

So the story goes, however one of them at least had jumped the bay to visit his girlfriend and was arrested in their warehouse in Shenzhen which had a huge stock of publications banned on the mainland. Another was pictured driving over the Thai/Cambodian border, alone. He was the one wanted for jumping bail in a hit and run fatality case some years earlier.

 

I wonder where all those hard hats and gas masks came from? It's a proper conundrum hey?

[JemJem]

One has to commend the Hong Kong security forces, for not resorting to excessive force.

 

If similar protests happened in places like Myanmar, Turkey, China, and most parts of the Arab world, there would be dozens of protesters killed or severely injured.

[xtrnuno41]

going back to 4 of june 1989 again?

"Leaders" in the world, just a pain in the ass.

I can not call any leader of a country, having harmony and good prospection of life.

Growing worse and worse.

[elcaro]

Did anyone else see that attack by white shirts on the metro station. Absolutely brutal. Triads hacking into men women and children. Even a pregnant woman was beaten to pulp. They say the police left the area and shut down refused to help. Absolutely sickening.

[Scott]

A troll post with disguised profanity has been removed.

 

[bendejo]

6 hours ago, elcaro said:

Did anyone else see that attack by white shirts on the metro station. Absolutely brutal. Triads hacking into men women and children. Even a pregnant woman was beaten to pulp. They say the police left the area and shut down refused to help. Absolutely sickening.

IMO China sent in provocateurs to escalate the protests to this level.  Now they can justify (in the eyes of the world) taking brutal measures.  "See what animals they are?"  Very sad turn of events.  

 

15 hours ago, mfd101 said:

The danger is that, as the riots continue, China will have the perfect excuse for military intervention & immediate takeover.

 

Which suggests - or it would if one were sufficiently paranoid - that China could well be provoking further disorders to that end.

Quite likely.  The world trend toward fascism is real.

 

Have a look at the protestors.  Watch the various news channels from other countries (give RT/Fox News a pass), and see what kind of people are protesting.  These are not frothing at the mouth thugs looking for confrontation. 

 

 

[gk10002000]

Tiannamen?

[Traubert]

6 hours ago, elcaro said:

They say the police left the area and shut down refused to help. Absolutely sickening.

I  think it's safe to say that the Police were occupied elsewhere under a rain of paving bricks and petrol bombs as shown in the OP video.

[Johnnyngai]

15 hours ago, JemJem said:

One has to commend the Hong Kong security forces, for not resorting to excessive force.

 

If similar protests happened in places like Myanmar, Turkey, China, and most parts of the Arab world, there would be dozens of protesters killed or severely injured.

The HK media was too afraid to show the real injuries on the protesters.  

Freedom of the press in HK  is like  "there is no prostitution in Thailand" 

See youtube for more real news.

[Johnnyngai]

14 hours ago, elcaro said:

Did anyone else see that attack by white shirts on the metro station. Absolutely brutal. Triads hacking into men women and children. Even a pregnant woman was beaten to pulp. They say the police left the area and shut down refused to help. Absolutely sickening.

Those "Triads" seems too big and tall compared to ordinary southern Chinese.  

They beat for the highest bidders; I wonder who is paying.       

[Johnnyngai]

7 hours ago, Traubert said:

I  think it's safe to say that the Police were occupied elsewhere under a rain of paving bricks and petrol bombs as shown in the OP video.

Freedom of the press in HK  is like  "there is no prostitution in Thailand"   

The HK press only show what would not offend the authority.  

[bendejo]

Notice that the white shirt rampage started in New Territories, far away from the protests.  They would have met resistance from the demonstrators if closer in.

 

 

[JemJem]

9 hours ago, Johnnyngai said:

The HK media was too afraid to show the real injuries on the protesters.  

Freedom of the press in HK  is like  "there is no prostitution in Thailand" 

See youtube for more real news.

Don't get me wrong; I am sure that sadly there have been instances where some of the HK cops used excessive force (and thus should be condemned), but I mean, OVERALL, the response of the HK cops have been a lot tamer than would have been in those countries I mentioned.

 

And, I think that the brutal acts that came from the 'white shirts' were horrible (luckily, no deaths occurred). There is a high chance China was behind this group, I am guessing.

[gunderhill]

 If  only Thailand would wake up also.