Hong Kong police fired tear gas to break up a demonstration by thousands of masked anti-government protesters in Victoria Park today, as downtown Hong Kong turned into a battleground.
On other hand, police deployed at least two water cannon trucks in the vicinity. They had issued warnings to protesters who occupied the area that they were taking part in an unauthorized rally and were violating a government ban on face masks, Times reported.
An anti-government protester is detained by policemen
Pro-democracy protesters smashed a ticketing counter inside a subway station, and were chased by riot police into a bustling shopping mall. Protesters and mall-goers flashed laser beams at armed officials in response.
The fast-moving crowds headed to the park through the Causeway Bay shopping district, some pulling up metal fencing to build street barricades, their actions masked by others holding umbrellas. Activists also threw at least one petrol bomb, according to Daily mail.
According to Associated Press, Pro-democracy candidates running in this month's district council elections -- who can meet with groups of 50 or fewer people without a police permit -- held meetings with voters at the park to try get around the rally ban. One candidate was pepper-sprayed in the face and detained after he argued with police.
Medical volunteers help wash spray paint from a woman's eye
Meanwhile, the protesters are angry at perceived Chinese meddling with Hong Kong’s freedoms, including its legal system, since the city returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. China denies the charge.
On last August, the protests, which at one point blocked three key roads, came on the fifth anniversary of a decision by China to curtail democratic reforms and rule out universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997.
''The government today said rashly embarking on political reform again will further polarise society, which is an irresponsible act,” the government news.gov.hk website said.
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