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Hong Kong: city on edge after day of unprecedented violence Hong Kong: protesters converge on financial centre after day of unprecedented violence
(about 4 hours later)
Universities and schools closed and officers deployed to metro stations after police shooting and man set on fire while arguing with protestersUniversities and schools closed and officers deployed to metro stations after police shooting and man set on fire while arguing with protesters
Hong Kong riot police have fired tear gas at a university campus, one day after a protester was shot and a man set on fire in some of worst violence to rock the Chinese-ruled city in more than five months of anti-government demonstrations. Thousands of demonstrators have converged on Hong Kong’s central business district, blocking roads and facing off with riot police as anti-government protests brought parts of the city to a standstill for a second day in a row.
Some railway services were suspended and roads closed across the Asian financial hub for a second day, with long traffic jams building in the morning rush hour. Black-clad demonstrators joined by what appeared to be office workers on their lunch hour marched along main roads, holding up outstretched hands to signal the five demands of the protesters. Some crouched behind umbrellas in Central, advancing toward riot police, who held up signs warning they would fire on the crowd.
Riot police were deployed at metro stations across the territory and large queues were forming at railway platforms as commuters made their way to work. Tuesday’s protests, at universities and locations across the city, come after violence reached a new peak on Monday in amid citywide strikes that resulted in at least 128 people receiving treatment in hospital. Among those was a 21-year-old demonstrator shot at close range in the torso by police. A 57 year old man seen arguing with protesters was also doused in flammable liquid and lit on fire, in a case police have deemed attempted murder.
Universities and schools cancelled classes, with students, teachers and parents on edge a day after police fired tear gas and students hurled petrol bombs on some campuses. Demonstrators have called for another day of strikes on Tuesday, as the Chinese territory enters its sixth month of political unrest that observers worry will only escalate.
The United States expressed “grave concern” over the increasingly violent situation and called for restraint by both security forces and protesters. Riot police fired tear gas at protesters at City University in Kowloon Tong while demonstrators threw rocks on train tracks in Shatin, disrupting public transit and forcing commuters to walk. In Central, some protesters vandalised street lights and others threw objects at police vans.
“The United States is watching the situation in Hong Kong with grave concern,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement on Monday. On Tuesday, some railway services were suspended, while shops and roads were closed, causing traffic jams. Several universities and some secondary and primary schools cancelled classes.
“We condemn violence on all sides, extend our sympathies to victims of violence regardless of their political inclinations, and call for all parties – police and protestors – to exercise restraint,” Ortagus said. The political crisis has entered a new phase following the death of a demonstrator on Friday, who succumbed to injuries sustained when he fell during a protest in what was the first death linked to police action.
More than 260 people were arrested on Monday, police said, bringing the total number to more than 3,000 since the protests escalated in June. More than 3,000 people have been arrested since the protests began in June, initially triggered by a bill that would allow the extradition of suspects in Hong Kong to mainland China. Of those, more than 260 were arrested on Monday.
The metro station at Sai Wan Ho on eastern Hong Kong island, where a 21-year-old protester was shot on Monday, was among those closed. Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday called the protesters “extremely selfish” for paralysing the city. On Monday, in a special address to media she described the protesters as enemies of the people and slammed “any wishful thinking” of protesters that escalating tactics would push the government to concede to their demands.
A water cannon truck was stationed outside government headquarters, where the city’s Executive Council was due to hold its weekly meeting. At Hong Kong University, academics pleaded with students, who make up the bulk of the demonstrators, to rethink their methods. “What is happening here is not sustainable,” said Matthew Evans, dean of the university’s faculty of science. “What happens is the police come. There is a fight. People get arrested. Then tomorrow it starts all over again … There’s not an end.”
“It is very inconvenient for me because I have a few meetings to go to in Central,” said a 38-year-old man who gave his name as Rodney and who works as a legal consultant for an international firm. The United States expressed “grave concern” over the situation and called for restraint by both the police and government and the protesters.
“Hopefully my partners will understand that my city is going through a tough period,” he said, adding that he blames Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam for the protests. The protesters are demanding an independent investigation into police behaviour over the course of the protests, as well as the implementation of universal suffrage to allow Hongkongers the right to elect their own leader and representatives.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam said on Monday the violence in the former British colony has exceeded protesters’ demands for democracy and demonstrators were now the enemy of the people. But Beijing, which has authority over Hong Kong as part of the “one country two systems” framework established when the former British colony was handed over to Chinese control, has signalled no willingness to concede.
Protesters are angry about what they see as police brutality and meddling by Beijing in the freedoms guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” formula put in place when the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997. On Tuesday, the state-run Global Times described the protesters in Hong Kong as “no different from terrorists like Islamic State”. Addressing the Hong Kong police, the editorial stressed the readiness of the People’s Liberation Army and police force to reinforce Hong Kong’s security forces when needed.
China denies interfering and has blamed Western countries for stirring up trouble. “Behind you are not only the people of Hong Kong and the whole country who love Hong Kong, but also the national armed police force and the troops stationed in Hong Kong.”