Hong Kong police say violent protesters forced use of water cannon, warning shot
HONG KONG, China — Hong Kong police on Monday said they were forced to fire water cannon and a warning shot to fend off "extremely violent" demonstrators, as months of pro-democracy protests veer deeper into violence.
Sunday's clashes in the suburb of Tsuen Wan were some of the worst in twelve weeks of political unrest tremoring through the city.
As night fell, a group of officers were cornered by protesters armed with bricks and other weapons, Hong Kong police said in a statement.
An officer fell to the ground under a barrage of blows and "facing threats to life", six policemen drew their sidearms and one "fired a warning shot into the sky", it said.
It is believed to be the first live round fired by an officer during the crisis.
Fifteen officers were injured during the clashes, the statement said, while dozens of protesters were arrested -- including a 12-year-old -- for unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and assaulting police.
"Police appeal to members of the public to make a clean break with violent protestors," the statement added, vowing "relentless action" to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The firing of a live round prodded an angry response from social media users who mocked a police spokesman who had praised the "valiant and restrained" actions of riot cops on Sunday.
"If the police can't control their emotion, how can they be valiant and restrained?" a Facebook user commented.
Earlier Sunday, a peaceful march across Tsuen Wan gave way to violence. Police used tear gas against the black-clad, gas mask-wearing hardcore protesters, who had built barricades and thrown bricks and Molotov cocktails at lines of riot cops.
Police confirmed they deployed two water cannon vehicles, whose jets hit the barricades as demonstrators ran for cover.
Deadlock
The weekend of violence -- unrest also flickered across the city on Saturday -- banished several days of peaceful actions, which included a human chain across the city.
The protest movement was sparked by an attempt by the city's Beijing-backed government to pass an extradition bill to China.
But it has flared into a wider call for greater democracy and police accountability.
The mainly young protesters, whose angst also stems from sky-high costs of living and a lack of jobs, say the future of the city of around seven million hangs in the balance with Beijing chiselling away at its unique freedoms.
They have shown few signs of leaving the streets, while the city government has also refused to give ground.
The deadlock has sunk Hong Kong deep into crisis.
Throughout the protests, Beijing has used a combination of intimidation, propaganda and economic muscle to stifle the protests in a strategy dubbed "white terror" by the movement.
Major Hong Kong businesses have come under pressure over staff support for the protests, most notably airline Cathay Pacific and the city metro -- MTR -- which has been accused of ferrying demonstrators to rally sites.
Since the allegations in Chinese state media, the MTR has closed stations near planned protests.
The protests are hacking away at Hong Kong's image as a prosperous and stable financial hub.
Hong Kong stocks dived more than three percent at the opening of trade on Monday.
Millions march in Hong Kong in a powerful rebuke of an extradition law feared to expose them to China's capricious justice system.
Hong Kong national security police on Thursday detained four people, including the brother of prominent activist Dennis Kwok, one of eight fugitives with bounties on their heads for allegedly breaching national security.
The city's national security department "took in two men and two women from various districts in Hong Kong and Kowloon for investigation," a police source told AFP.
Among the four was the elder brother of former democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who is currently in the United States.
"(Kwok's elder brother) is now under investigation in the Western District police station," the source said.
Three others, "two women and a man", were taken in Tuesday by the national security department, authorities told AFP earlier Thursday.
AFP has requested comment from police on the most recent detentions. — AFP
Three family members of exiled democracy activist Nathan Law have been taken in for questioning on Tuesday, days after authorities issued a bounty on him and seven others accused of breaching the city's national security law.
Police officers from the national security department brought in Law's parents and elder brother without formally arresting them, a police source confirmed to AFP.
"It's understood that officers from the NSD took three people -- Nathan Law's parents and elder brother -- in for questioning," they said.
"So far, no arrest has been made." — AFP
The United States condemns Hong Kong authorities for issuing bounties linked to democracy activists based abroad, saying the move sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten human rights.
Hong Kong police offered bounties of HK$1 million (about $127,600) for information leading to the capture of eight prominent dissidents who live abroad and are wanted for national security crimes.
"The United States condemns the Hong Kong Police Force's issuance of an international bounty" against the eight activists, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says in a statement.
"The extraterritorial application of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law is a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world," he adds, saying China is engaging in "transnational repression efforts."
"We call on the Hong Kong government to immediately withdraw this bounty, respect other countries' sovereignty, and stop the international assertion of the National Security Law imposed by Beijing." — AFP
Hong Kong's top court has quashed the conviction of a journalist in relation to her investigation into an attack on democracy supporters by government loyalists in 2019.
It was a rare victory for the press industry in a city where two major independent news outlets have been forced to shut down since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
"Happy -- I could not think of another word that can describe my mood right now," veteran journalist Bao Choy said outside the Court of Final Appeal after the judgement was handed down.
"I think this kind of happiness belongs to everyone in society." — AFP
Hong Kong police detained Alexandra Wong, a prominent democracy activist better known as "Grandma Wong" on Sunday, the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, AFP reporters said.
Wong was carrying flowers in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay shopping district, an area that for years was the site of June 4, 1989, commemorations, before authorities escorted her to a police van. AFP reporters saw a total of six people bundled into police vehicles. — AFP
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