Hong Kong police fire tear gas and rubber bullets on students as China threatens to bring in the army
The epicentre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was turned into a battlefield as pro-democracy protesters clashed with police.
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Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters fought intense battles with riot police on a university campus and paralysed the city’s up-market business district, extending one of the most violent stretches of unrest seen in more than five months of political chaos.
The epicentre was the Chinese University of Hong Kong where the usually placid hillside grounds were turned into a battlefield for hours.
Police fired repeated volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of protesters who responded with bricks and petrol bombs.
The clashes raged well into the night, despite faculty and staff trying to mediate, with flames lighting up the night sky and the dense clouds of acrid smoke.
Police eventually used a water cannon truck and then began a retreat – although sporadic tear gas fire continued – and as midnight approached the campus remained in the hands of protesters behind their makeshift shield walls.
A 19-year-old volunteer medic, who gave his first name Marco, said he had lost count of how many students he treated who had been struck by rubber bullets.
“Most of the cases I received from the frontline had been shot above their chest,” he told AFP.
As the chaotic scenes were broadcast live, protesters took over roads in dozens of neighbourhoods in a bid to keep the police stretched while volunteers flocked to the university to bring supplies.
Authorities have offered repeated condemnation but been unable or unwilling to find a solution to the crisis.
“Hong Kong’s rule of law has been pushed to the brink of total collapse,” police spokesman Kong Wing-cheung told a press conference as he defended the force against seething public anger.
After months of largely confining their most disruptive protests to the weekends, online groups used by protesters have been pushing new tactics targeting the working week.
For the last two days flashmob protesters have blocked roads during the morning rush hour, thrown objects onto rail tracks and held up subway trains, sparking transport chaos throughout the city.
In Central, a district that is home to many blue-chip international firms and luxury shops, thousands of office workers occupied roads for hours on Tuesday chanting: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!”
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The confrontations followed a particularly brutal day on Monday, when police shot a protester and a man was set on fire.
Both the man set alight and the shot protester remained in critical condition on Tuesday, hospital authorities said.
Tensions had initially spiked following the death last week of a young man who fell from a multistorey car park during clashes with police.
He was the first student to die in the five months of protests, and protests over the weekend then escalated at the start of the working week.
The protest movement has been fuelled by Beijing’s tightening control over Hong Kong.
Protesters are demanding a right to freely elect their leaders, as well as an independent inquiry into what they see as police brutality. But China has steadfastly refused to give any concessions to the protesters, and instead warned of even tougher security measures. Chinese state media on Tuesday again raised the spectre of the People’s Liberation Army being deployed to end the crisis.
The European Union today called on all sides to show restraint and said a swift end to violence was paramount.
It also called for a “comprehensive inquiry into the violence, use of force and the root causes of the protests” that would be “a critical element in de-escalation efforts.”
A call by the EU last month for de-escalation in Hong Kong met at the time with a vitriolic response by Beijing which accused Brussels of having “publicly glorified the abuses of rioters”.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has so far refused to accept the protesters’ demands for political concessions.
“If there is still any wishful thinking that, by escalating violence, the Hong Kong SAR government will yield to pressure to satisfy the so-called political demands, I am making this statement clear and loud here: That will not happen,” Ms Lam said earlier this week, using the initials for Special Administrative Region, which describes the city’s status as a semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
“These rioters’ actions have far exceeded their demands, and they are enemies of the people,” she said.
Originally published as Hong Kong police fire tear gas and rubber bullets on students as China threatens to bring in the army