Riot police officers point weapons during a confrontation with protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday, July 21, 2019. Protesters in Hong Kong pressed on Sunday past the designated endpoint for a march in which tens of thousands repeated demands for direct elections in the Chinese territory and an independent investigation into police tactics used in previous demonstrations. (Photo by VINCENT YU / AP)
HONG KONG 鈥� Hong Kong鈥檚 protest movement took a violent turn on Sunday, as police launched tear gas at protesters after a massive march continued late into the evening, and subway riders were attacked by masked assailants who apparently were targeting pro-democracy demonstrators.
The firing of the tear gas was the latest confrontation between police and protesters who have taken to the streets for over a month to fight a proposed extradition bill and call for electoral reforms in the Chinese territory.
The march had been peaceful when it reached its police-designated endpoint in Hong Kong鈥檚 Wan Chai district in the late afternoon, but thousands continued onward, at various points occupying key government and business districts.
They then headed for the Liaison Office, which represents China鈥檚 Communist Party-led central government within the city.
Protesters threw eggs at the building and spray-painted its surrounding surveillance cameras. China鈥檚 national emblem, which adorns the front of the Liaison Office, was splattered with black ink.
Later, police threw tear gas canisters at protesters to try to disperse them. Protesters scattered, some heading back in the direction of a key business and retail district. Police remained in place, protecting themselves with shields.
Medical workers help a protester in pain from tear gas fired by policemen on a street in Hong Kong, Sunday, July 21, 2019. Hong Kong police have thrown tear gas canisters at protesters after they refused to disperse. (Photo by BOBBY YIP / AP)
Hong Kong media released video footage showing masked assailants attacking commuters in a subway station. Among those attacked were protesters clad in their trademark black clothing and yellow hard hats.
The attackers, meanwhile, were dressed in white with black masks pulled over their heads. On Saturday, demonstrators wore white at a counter-rally in support of police.
Footage from Apple Daily showed the attackers using umbrellas to beat people in the station and inside a subway car. Subway passengers filmed by Stand 黑料社 and iCABLE angrily accused police officers of not intervening in the attack.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement shortly after midnight that commuters had been attacked at a subway station in the city鈥檚 Yuen Long neighborhood, leading to 鈥渃onfrontations and injuries.鈥�
The statement also said that 鈥渟ome radical protesters initiated a series of violent acts 鈥� despite repeated warnings鈥� by the police. They said the acts included the hurling of petrol bombs, setting fires and throwing bricks.
鈥淭his is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law,鈥� the statement said, referring to the acts of the subway attackers as well as the protesters.
Organizers said 430,000 people participated in Sunday鈥檚 march, while police said there were 138,000 during the procession鈥檚 鈥減eak period.鈥�
Large protests began early last month in opposition to a contentious extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their rights would be compromised.
Hong Kong鈥檚 leader, Carrie Lam, has declared the extradition bill dead, but protesters are dissatisfied with her refusal to formally withdraw the legislation. Some are also calling for her to resign amid growing concerns about the steady erosion of civil rights in the city.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed back to China in 1997 and was promised certain democratic freedoms under the framework of 鈥渙ne country, two systems.鈥� Fueled by anger at Lam and an enduring distrust of the Communist Party-ruled central government in Beijing, the current demonstrations have ballooned into calls for electoral reform and an investigation into alleged police brutality at the protests.
Walking in the sweltering heat, protesters dressed in black kicked off Sunday鈥檚 march at a public park, carrying a large banner that read 鈥淚ndependent Inquiry for Rule of Law.鈥�
鈥淔ree Hong Kong! Democracy now!鈥� the protesters chanted, forming a dense procession through Wan Chai as they were joined by others who had been waiting on side streets.
鈥淚 think the government has never responded to our demands,鈥� said Karen Yu, a 52-year-old Hong Kong resident who has attended four protests since they started. 鈥淣o matter how much the government can do, at least it should come out and respond to us directly.鈥�
Marchers ignored orders from police to finish off the procession on a road in Wan Chai, according to police and the Civil Human Rights Front, the march鈥檚 organizers.
Protesters repeated the five points of their 鈥渕anifesto,鈥� which was first introduced when a small group of them stormed the legislature earlier this month. Their main demands include universal suffrage 鈥� direct voting rights for all Hong Kong residents 鈥� as well as dropping charges against anti-extradition protesters, withdrawing the characterization of a clash between police and protesters as a 鈥渞iot鈥� and dissolving the Legislative Council.
Protesters read the demands aloud in both English and Cantonese in videos released Saturday.
鈥淲e did not want to embark on this path of resisting tyranny with our bare bodies,鈥� they said, 鈥渂ut for too long, our government has lied and deceived, and refused to respond to the demands of the people.鈥�
While the demonstrations have been largely peaceful, some confrontations between police and protesters have turned violent. In Sha Tin district the previous Sunday, they beat each other with umbrellas and bats inside a luxury shopping center. Demonstrators broke into the Legislative Council building on July 1 by moving past barricades and shattering windows. Meanwhile, police officers have used pepper spray, tear gas, bean bag rounds and rubber bullets to quell the crowds.
On Friday, Hong Kong police discovered a stash of a powerful homemade explosive and arrested a man in a raid on a commercial building. Materials voicing opposition to the extradition bill were found at the site, local media said, but a police spokesman said no concrete link had been established and the investigation was continuing.
The People鈥檚 Daily, the Communist Party鈥檚 official newspaper, condemned 鈥渞adical extremists鈥� who attacked the legislature and 鈥渢rampled鈥� on Hong Kong鈥檚 rule of law in a front-page column Sunday. The paper said the counter-rally Saturday intended to show support for the police reflected 鈥渕ainstream public opinion鈥� in Hong Kong.
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