Tag Archives: live ammunition

Hong Kong faces more protests after night of violence

By Simon Gardner and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters gathered in Hong Kong shopping malls on Monday demanding “freedom” ahead of expected new protests after overnight turmoil in the Asian financial hub brought a warning from the last British governor that people could be killed.

Protesters formed large circles inside multi-level shopping malls and chanted “disband Hong Kong police force”, “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” and “I have the right to wear a mask”, as shoppers on a public holiday looked on.

The introduction of colonial-era emergency powers on Friday banning face masks, which protesters use to hide their identity, has sparked some of the most violent clashes in four months of demonstrations.

“Before long, unless we are very, very lucky, people are going to get killed, people are going to be shot,” former British governor Chris Patten told Sky News. “The idea that with public order policing you send police forces out with live ammunition is preposterous.”

Two protesters have been shot, one in the chest and one in the leg. Authorities said the shootings were not intentional but occurred during skirmishes between police and protesters.

Many protesters, police and journalists have been injured in clashes, with police using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators, some of whom throw bricks and petrol bombs.

A journalist working with Hong Kong’s public broadcaster was recovering in the hospital on Monday after being hit by a petrol bomb on Sunday night.

On Monday, Hong Kong’s metro rail system, which typically carries about 5 million passengers a day, was only partially operating due to what authorities said was “serious vandalism” on Sunday night. Some stations were torched in the protests.

Many shops and Chinese banks were also extensively damaged.

The Sunday night protests, the second night of violence since the imposition of emergency laws, saw scores of protesters arrested and the first warning from Chinese military personnel stationed in the territory.

The protests have plunged the former British colony into its worst political crisis in decades and pose the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

What started as opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill has grown into a pro-democracy movement against what is seen as Beijing’s increasing grip on the city, which protesters say undermines a “one country, two systems” status promised when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

China dismisses such accusations, saying foreign governments, including Britain and the United States, have fanned anti-China sentiment.

‘IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE’

A 38-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man were charged on Monday for violating the emergency laws. They were also charged with unlawful assembly.

Tens of thousands of protesters, many families with children, marched peacefully through the center of Hong Kong on Sunday, most wearing face masks in defiance of the threat of a maximum one year in prison for doing so.

Police fired tear gas and charged with batons in an attempt to disperse protesters across the city and the rallies deteriorated into running clashes as night fell.

China’s Hong Kong military garrison warned protesters on Sunday they could be arrested for targeting its barracks with lasers – the first direct interaction between the People’s Liberation Army and protesters.

Carrie Lam, the city’s Beijing-backed leader, has said the face mask ban was necessary to end the violence by militant activists. But it has been criticized by human rights groups and the United Nations.

“She would have to be crazy to be making these decisions on her own without being pressured into them. The face mask business, absolutely madness,” said Patten, who handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

“I fear for the future, unless Carrie Lam actually intervenes and understands the importance of dialogue.”

The city government said in a statement “public safety has been jeopardized and the public order of the whole city is being pushed to the verge of a very dangerous situation”.

Hong Kong is facing its first recession in a decade with the protests damaging tourism and retail sectors.

Protesters are demanding an independent inquiry into police action.

Some protesters said an inquiry, which Patten also called for Lam to allow, was key to ending the protests.

“Hong Kong is part of China, no doubt. We don’t want independence. But we do want our freedoms that we are used to,” said Kong, 57, who works in finance, as he watched hundreds of protesters chanting in a shopping mall on Sunday.

“If they hold an independent inquiry, that would do it. Half of these people would go home. That is the key,” Kong said.

But others are worried the emergency powers are just the beginning of more erosion of their rights.

“The government can use the emergency law to enact other evil laws,” said student Isaac Shum, 19, at one shopping mall protest.

(Additional reporting Simon Gardner, Jessie Pang, Farah Masters; Writing Michael Perry; Editing by Paul Tait and Gerry Doyle)

Hong Kong police shoot teen as protest violence escalates

By Jessie Pang and Donny Kwok

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police shot a teenager on Tuesday, the first time a protester has been hit by live ammunition during four months of demonstrations, as the Chinese-ruled city was rocked by widespread unrest on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

In cat-and-mouse clashes that spread from the upmarket district of Causeway Bay to the Admiralty area of government offices on Hong Kong island, police were pelted with petrol bombs and responded by firing tear gas and water cannon.

Police said an officer shot an 18-year-old man in the shoulder in the Tsuen Wan area of the New Territories with a live round. Protesters have previously been hit before with bean bags rounds and rubber bullets and officers have fired live rounds in the air.

Verified video footage of the incident widely shared on social media shows a chaotic melee with riot police battling protesters wielding metal bars, before an officer fires a shot at close range.

As the wounded man steps back and falls, someone tries to help, but another policeman tackles him to the ground.

“A large group of rioters was attacking police officers in Tsuen Wan,” police said in a statement. “Police officers warned them, but they were still attacking police. A police officer’s life was seriously endangered. In order to save his and other officers’ lives, they fired at the attacker.”

There were no immediate details on the wounded man’s condition.

Former colonial ruler Britain said the use of live ammunition was disproportionate.

Nearly four months of street clashes and demonstrations have plunged the former British colony into its biggest political crisis in decades and pose the most serious popular challenge to President Xi Jinping since he came to power.

Protesters had vowed to seize the opportunity on China’s National Day to propel their calls for greater democracy onto the international stage, hijacking an occasion Beijing sees as an opportunity to showcase China’s economic and military progress.

“I’m not young, but if we don’t march now, we’ll never have the chance to speak again, it’s as simple as that,” said one marcher near Causeway Bay, a 42-year-old woman with her own logistics company who identified herself as Li.

POLICE BAN DEFIED

Thousands of black-clad protesters, some wearing Guy Fawkes masks, marched on Admiralty, defying a police ban. Violence escalated across the harbor to Kowloon and beyond to the New Territories. Police vans chasing down pro-democracy protesters in the key drag of Hennessy Road.

Police said 31 people had been wounded across the territory, two critically, without giving details.

Protester Jerry, 26, dressed in black and sitting amid the wreckage in Causeway Bay, denounced the police.

“The Hong Kong police, they’ve just lost their minds,” he told Reuters. “They just follow orders. They say it’s to protect lives, but they see the people as objects.”

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab criticized the use of live ammunition.

“Whilst there is no excuse for violence, the use of live ammunition is disproportionate, and only risks inflaming the situation,” Raab said in a statement.

In the Admiralty area, police fired water cannon and volley after volley of tear gas to disperse protesters throwing Molotov cocktails outside central government offices and ordered the evacuation of the Legislative Council building next door.

Petrol bombs were also thrown at MTR metro stations, including at Causeway Bay and Admiralty and Sham Shui Po in the New Territories. Many stations were closed to stop protesters moving around. Shutting stations has made them a common target for attack during the weeks of unrest.

Chinese banks and Chinese-backed businesses were targeted with petrol bombs and anti-China graffiti. Local broadcaster RTHK said it was pulling all its reporters away from the violence after one was hit on the head.

BIRTHDAY PARADE

Hong Kong has been tense for weeks, with protests often turning violent, as authorities tried to avoid activists spoiling Beijing’s birthday parade.

Hundreds of officials and members of Hong Kong’s pro-establishment elite began the day with a flag-raising ceremony and National Day reception at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, held early and moved behind closed doors. Roads to the center were closed and tightly policed.

Hong Kong had benefited from China’s support under the “one country, two systems” policy, Acting Chief Executive Matthew Cheng told the assembly, referring to guarantees of political freedoms after the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

But he said escalating violence was disrupting social order and hurting the economy.

The government of embattled leader Carrie Lam has already canceled an annual Oct. 1 fireworks display over the city’s Victoria Harbour, citing public safety.

Lam, who was trapped in a stadium for hours last week after attending the “open dialogue”, left for Beijing on Monday to celebrate China’s birthday on the mainland.

In contrast to events in Hong Kong, Beijing’s carefully choreographed anniversary festivities included troops marching through part of Tiananmen Square with new missiles and floats celebrating the country’s technological prowess.

Lam was shown on television smiling as a float celebrating Hong Kong went past as she sat with Chinese officials.

The Communist Party leadership is determined to project an image of national strength and unity in the face of challenges including Hong Kong’s unrest.

“On our journey forward, we must uphold the principles of peaceful reunification and one country, two systems; maintain lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macau … and continue to strive for the motherland’s complete reunification,” Xi said in a nationally televised speech in Beijing.

Hong Kong protesters are angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in the Asian financial center.

China dismisses the accusation and has accused foreign governments, including the United States and Britain, of fanning anti-China sentiment.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang and Donny Kwok, Additional reporting by Sharon Tam, Felix Tam, Poppy McPherson, Anne Marie Roantree, Farah Master, James Pomfret, Twinnie Siu, Alun John, David Kirton, Jennifer Hughes and Keith Zhai; Writing by Clara Ferreira Marques, Bill Rigby and Nick Macfie; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)