Hong Kong police fire teargas and charge at protesters

Officers move to disperse crowds after breakaway group stormed parliament building

 Hong Kong riot police fire teargas at protesters – video report

Verna Yu and Christy Choi -Tue 2 Jul 2019

Hong Kong police have fired teargas at demonstrators and moved to disperse crowds after protesters stormed the legislative council building and raised the territory’s former colonial flag on the 22nd anniversary of its handover to China.

The dramatic scenes came after a peaceful march of half a million people made its way through other parts of the city as its deepest political crisis in two decades showed no sign of abating. For the past month protesters have been demanding the withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland as anger has grown against Hong Kong authorities and the territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam.

The police action came against a breakaway group of protesters, some of whom had forced their way into the legislative council building and vandalised its main chamber.

Shortly after midnight local time (1600 BST), police in riot gear held up a black flag reading “teargas warning” before shooting several rounds of the gas into protesters. They then climbed over barricades put up by protesters earlier in the day and charged at the people gathered.

Outside the legislative council building protesters wearing hard hats, goggles and masks ran away clutching umbrellas as smoke filled the air.

Protesters had for hours been repeatedly striking reinforced glass walls with a metal trolley and poles as hundreds of others watched on. Once inside they threw chairs and tore down and defaced portraits of past lawmakers. After the protesters were dispersed, images of the vandalised building were broadcast. More than 50 people were reportedly taken to hospital for treatment after various protests throughout the day.

“I don’t know whether this would work, but what other channels are there to make Carrie Lam listen to us?” said a male protester outside the legislative council building, who declined to be named.

“We used to protest peacefully but it didn’t work, now we need to get out of this framework and tell them, we’re willing to try anything until you give us an answer.”

Police had issued several warnings through the evening and appeared to be gearing up for violent clashes, but had left the protesters largely unhindered in their efforts even as the group tore up the inside of the building. Local TV footage showed police officers armed with non-lethal weaponry in other parts of the government complex as the protesters broke in.

One lawmaker, Fernando Cheung, suggested to reporters that the inaction from police had been a trap, aimed at swinging public sentiment against the protest movement with the help of violent and destructive scenes.

Riot police outside the legislative council building. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Half a dozen pro-democracy and independent lawmakers had earlier scuffled with protesters as they called for calm and pushed against the trolley that was being used to enter the council building.

“They simply wouldn’t listen to me,” said Lam Cheuk-ting, one of the politicians. “The movement at large is peaceful, but some young people are overwhelmed by a strong sense of helplessness and they’re emotionally charged.”

While a small splinter group was causing trouble at the legislature, 550,000 people marched peacefully through downtown Hong Kong without any scenes of violence or chaos.

The organisers of that rally – the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) – issued a joint statement with democratic lawmakers placing the blame for the destruction at the legislative council squarely on Lam, saying she had “ignored the demands of the people and pushed youngsters towards desperation”.

The CHRF also reiterated its five demands: the full retraction of the controversial extradition law amendment bill; an investigation into police brutality; Lam’s resignation; the release of arrested protesters; and the removal of the designation of the earlier clashes as a riot.

Riot police fired teargas as they arrived to disperse protesters from the legislative council building. Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

Lam called a rare press conference early on Tuesday to condemn the “extremely violent” storming of the legislature, which she described as “heartbreaking and shocking”.

Speaking beside Lam, police chief Stephen Lo said: “Protesters’ violent acts have far exceeded the bottom line of peaceful expressions of demands.”

A joint statement from 41 pro-government lawmakers condemned what they described as “extremely radical and violent acts”, such as the occupying of roads and vandalism of the council building.

The rallies are the latest manifestation of growing fears that China is stamping down on the city’s freedoms and culture with the help of the finance hub’s pro-Beijing leaders.

Although returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong is still administered separately under an arrangement known as “one country, two systems”. The city enjoys rights and liberties unseen on the autocratic mainland, but many residents believe Beijing is reneging on that deal.

While the recent protests were initially sparked by Lam’s attempts to pass the proposed extradition legislation, the demonstrations have morphed into a wider movement against her administration and Beijing.

Both the protesters and the government have in recent weeks been trying to keep public opinion and attention on their side. The protesters have mostly been orderly, obeying traffic laws, cleaning up after themselves and allowing ambulances to pass even when tens of thousands are gathered.

They even returned to bow and apologise to civil servants after a small-scale protest forced government offices to shut and the staff to go home early.

Up until midnight police were far more restrained with their use of force, having been criticised for their actions against protesters at a smaller protest on 12 June, when they fired 150 rounds of teargas and rubber bullets, and videos of police beating and pepper-spraying unarmed protesters circulated over the internet.

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on Monday stressed “UK support for Hong Kong and its freedoms”, saying in a statement that “no violence is acceptable but Hong Kong people must preserve the right to peaceful protest exercised within the law, as hundreds of thousands of brave people showed today.”

 Defaced portraits of Hong Kong officials in the legislative council building. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

UK diplomats will be concerned that the Hong Kong executive might use the violence as a reason to impose severe penalties on protesters, including possibly reintroducing the suspended extradition law.

The UK had been privately pressing for the legislation to be dropped altogether.

China also reiterated its stance against what it called “foreign interference” in Hong Kong. Speaking in Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said the UK’s rights and obligations under the joint declaration on the 1997 handover of Hong Kong had ended.

“Britain has no so-called responsibility for Hong Kong. Hong Kong matters are purely an internal affair for China. No foreign country has a right to interfere,” Geng told a daily news briefing.

“Recently Britain has continuously gesticulated about Hong Kong, flagrantly interfering. We are extremely dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposed.”

Earlier in the day, Lam, had attempted to calm the mood, as during an official ceremony took place at a convention centre in WanHong Kong’s Wan Chai todistrict to mark the 22nd anniversary of the handover.

In her speech, Lam referred to the protests, saying they had made her realise “the need to grasp public sentiments accurately”. She said: “I am also fully aware that while we have good intentions, we still need to be open and accommodating.”

Additional reporting by Patrick Wintour