Tensions escalate in Hong Kong protests as police weapon fired

Tensions flared in Hong Kong on a weekend that began with the formation of a peaceful human chain across the city and culminated two days later with police firing a weapon and using water cannons for the first time.

In a 12th straight weekend of protests, violent clashes erupted between police and protesters Sunday evening in the New Territories district of Tsuen Wan. They came the day after Chief Executive Carrie Lam met with former officials and other prominent figures to build a dialogue that can resolve the crisis rocking the former British colony.

Police arrested 86 people ages 12 to 52 over the weekend for alleged offenses including unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and assaulting police officers, police officials said at a Monday briefing. Senior Superintendent Kong Wing-cheung said police used 215 tear gas canisters and 74 rubber bullets along with sponge bullets and bean bag rounds, over two days. Twenty-one police were injured, they said.

That’s more than 10% of the tear gas canisters – and almost 20% of the rubber bullets – fired since the protests began 12 weeks ago.

The return to violence followed a peaceful mass march the previous weekend that had fueled hopes of a reset after a period of escalating clashes between protesters and police. Historic protests opposing legislation allowing extraditions to China began in June, and have since widened into a broader movement against Beijing’s grip on the city that shows no signs of ending.

Anson Chan, the city’s former No. 2 official and a member of the pro-democracy camp, said Monday that there was “not much point” in Lam’s dialogue unless she was prepared to consider protester demands, including withdrawing the extradition bill and appointing a commission of inquiry into the unrest. “It’s all very well to have a dialogue, but if the dialogue leads absolutely nowhere, then this will just add to the increasing frustration and anger felt on the part of the protesters,” Chan told Bloomberg TV.

Losing patience

In the latest warning from Beijing, the state-run Xinhua News Agency published a commentary Sunday, saying that the protests had turned into a “color revolution” and underscoring the central government’s right to intervene in such cases. Previously, official sources had only described the movement as having some characteristics of a color revolution aimed at overturning the city’s constitutional institutions.

“It’s not only the Chinese central government’s authority, but also its responsibility to intervene when riots take place in Hong Kong,” the Xinhua commentary said Sunday, drawing on comments by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

President Donald Trump said earlier this month that reports from the country’s intelligence agencies show the Chinese government is moving troops to its border with Hong Kong. A day earlier, the state-run Global Times reported that the Chinese People’s Armed Police were assembling in Shenzhen ahead of “apparent large-scale exercises.”

‘Best option’

The Hong Kong police defended the decision by one of its officers to fire a warning shot into the sky Sunday, calling it “the best option” to disperse hundreds of protesters who were charging toward a fallen officer with metal poles and other weapons. Six officers drew their guns during the scuffles, police said.

“Our officer’s life was in great danger,” Yolanda Yu, a police senior superintendent, said at an earlier briefing Monday that started with video footage of black-clad protesters attacking the police. “The use of force was indeed necessary and reasonable. It was to protect any person, including the officer himself, from death or serious bodily injury.”

Yu also stood by the move by an officer who kicked a person while holding his revolver, calling it a “natural reflex.”

Police for the first time used water cannon trucks to clear barricades set up by protesters in Tsuen Wan and fired tear gas to disperse people who had occupied roads. Running battles continued into the night, with streets cleared at about 8:30 p.m., around the time that the gun was discharged.

People came out to protest despite a day of often-heavy rain. “The rainy weather is good for the protesters but it’s bad for the police, who are wearing heavy gear. It also makes their tear gas ineffective,” said Gloria Mak, a 25-year-old assistant to a Japanese company.

A toll on business

The unrest continues to take a toll on business, including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. which is taking a tougher stance on staff and said it would show no tolerance toward employees supporting or taking part in illegal protests ahead of “planned activities” by trade union members around its operational hub Cathay City yesterday. Those events were later rescheduled for tomorrow.

The MTR Corp. suspended subway train services to stations near the planned Tsuen Wan march. Operations Director Adi Lau Tin-shing said the current situation represented the rail company’s biggest challenge in its 40 years of operation.

Police also said “radical protesters” in Saturday’s clashes in the Kwun Tong area of Kowloon used electric saws to damage a number of smart lampposts, and hurled bricks and petrol bombs at officers. Police said 32 people were arrested Saturday.

The same day, Lam invited about 30 people to a meeting organized at the Government House, including ex-transport chief Anthony Cheung and Cardinal John Tong, the former bishop of Hong Kong, RTHK reported. She said the meeting was not a “dialogue platform,” but a gathering to share ideas on how to build dialogue.

“I do not expect dialogue to easily resolve the deadlock, stop demonstrations, or to provide solutions to problems,” Lam said in a Facebook post. “But continuing to fight is not the way out.” Natalie Lung, Aaron Mc Nicholas, Annie Lee & Kari Lindberg, Bloomberg