Hong Kong protests: Police shoot teen protester
A teenage protester was left bleeding and howling on the ground after being shot by Hong Kong police in a fearsome escalation of violence.
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Hong Kong police have shot a teenage protester at close range in the chest, leaving him bleeding and howling on the ground, in a fearsome escalation of anti-government demonstrations that spread across the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Tens of thousands marched in a day of rage as Communist leaders in Beijing celebrated 70 years in power.
The single pistol shot fired by the officer as protesters swarmed toward him hit the 18-year-old on the left side of his chest, police spokeswoman Yolanda Yu said.
She described the protesters as “rioters” and said the officer feared for his life.
The wounded teenager was taken to a hospital for treatment, she added, without giving details about his condition.
While officers have previously fired warning shots in the air on multiple occasions during months of protests in Hong Kong, this was the first time a protester is known to have been shot.
There were other instances when officers also drew their weapons, including two with bloodied faces who pointed pistols, as protesters and riot police fought fierce battles at multiple locations in the city on edge, with many determined to spoil the October 1 anniversary of Communist rule.
Commissioner of police Stephen Lo Wai-chung said the use of a live round was “lawful and reasonable”, and the man had been arrested for assaulting a police officer after he was taken to hospital.
The officer opened fire after protesters attacked a policeman who was lying on the ground, Lo told the SCMP.
“So when an officer felt that officers’ lives were under serious threat, he fired a live round.” Six live rounds were fired in total during the protests on Tuesday, he added.
Video that spread quickly on social media appeared to show the officer opening fire as the protester came at him with a metal rod, striking the officer’s shooting arm.
Taken by the City University Student Union, it showed a dozen black-clad protesters hurling objects at a group of riot police and closing in on the lone officer who pointed his pistol and opened fire.
The protester toppled backward onto the street, bleeding from below his left shoulder.
As another protester rushed in to try to drag away the wounded youth and was tackled by an officer, a gasoline bomb landed in the middle of the group of officers in an explosion of flames.
The shooting marked a dramatic escalation in violence that spread chaos to multiple areas of China’s freest and most international city.
Riot police fired tear gas in at least six locations and used water cannons in the business district as protesters turned streets into battlefields.
A security clampdown to thwart violence that would embarrass Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to deter the protests, including a massive march in the city centre.
Organisers said at least 100,000 people marched along a broad thoroughfare in defiance of a police ban, chanting anti-China slogans and some carrying Chinese flags defaced with a black cross. Police didn’t provide an estimate of the turnout.
“They are squeezing our necks so we don’t breathe the air of freedom,” said King Chan, a 57-year-old homemaker who came out to protest with her husband. Many demonstrators tossed wads of fake bank notes usually used at funerals into the air.
“The leaders who won’t listen to our voice, this is for them,” said marcher Ray Luk.
Thousands confronted police across the city, the largest number of simultaneous protests since the unrest began in early June over a now-shelved extradition bill that activists say was an example of how Hong Kong’s freedoms and citizen rights are being eroded.
The movement has since snowballed into an anti-Chinese campaign with demands for direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.
The smell of stinging tear gas and smoke from street fires started by protesters engulfed the Wan Chai, Wong Tai Sin, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and Tsim Sha Tsui areas. Protesters hurled gasoline bombs, bricks and other objects at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas.
Originally published as Hong Kong protests: Police shoot teen protester
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