Hong Kong Protester Shot In Chest: Police Use Live Fire, Tear Gas To Disperse Crowds
A Hong Kong protester has been shot in the chest during clashes with police, according to police sources.
The demonstrator was said to be disoriented while being taken to Princess Margaret Hospital after being hit in the left chest during rallies in the city’s Tsuen Wan district. The bullet punctured his rib and he is critical condition, reported 01HK.com.
Footage posted by The Hong Kong University Students’ Union apparently shows a police officer drawing the gun and shooting a male activist at close range as the protester beat the officer with a baton.
Strife-torn Hong Kong today marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China with defiant ‘Day of Grief’ protests.
Fresh clashes occurred between pro-democracy activists and police after demonstrators ignored a ban on marches and took to the streets anyway while Beijing celebrated the National Day with a grand military parade.
The protester was shot at around 4:10pm on Hoi Pa Street and was taken to hospital about 20 minutes later.
A video circulating on Facebook shows the agonising victim asking onlookers to help him as he said: ‘Send me to hospital. My chest is hurting. I need to go to hospital.’
He said in the clip that his name was Tsang Tsz Kin.
Hong Kong police also fired live bullets during a clash with anti-government protesters in Yau Ma Tei.
Police fired two warning shots outside the metro station this afternoon to disperse activists after a number of isolated officers had been attacked by the crowd, according to local media.
Demonstrators fled after the gun shots and some officers sustained bleeding on the head, reported Hong Kong’s Now TV.
Another male protester in Wong Tai Sin was shot in the left eye by what’s believed to be a bean bag round, reported 01HK.
The city’s anti-riot officers have been mostly using less lethal bean bag rounds to drive away protesters during anti-government rallies in the past three months. They fired the first live gun shot on August 25 during clashes.
Protesters were also filmed throwing eggs at President Xi’s portrait outside a sports ground in Wan Chai while police fired tear gas during scuffles. Some activists were also seen burning a Chinese national flag.
Riot police fired tear gas to disperse pro-democracy protesters in several districts in Hong Kong amid multiple rallies challenging the Chinese Communist Party as it marks its 70th year of rule.
Dozens of police officers formed a security cordon, backed by a water cannon truck, to prevent protesters from advancing to Beijing’s liaison office in the city.
Battles between hundreds of black-clad protesters and police occurred in multiple locations, turning streets into battlefields.
Police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at the Wong Tai Sin, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun areas as protesters hurled gas bombs, bricks and other objects in their direction.
Police said protesters used corrosive fluid in Tuen Mun, injuring officers and some reporters.
The city was already under tight security, and more subway stations were shuttered as the violence spread.
Activists are determined to overshadow Beijing’s festivities, using the anniversary to step up their nearly four months of protests pushing for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Thousands marched through the streets of Hong Kong island this afternoon, despite authorities rejecting an application to hold a rally there as police warned people ‘to leave the scene as soon as possible’.
Demonstrators chanted slogans including ‘fight for freedom, stand with hong kong’ and some donned the Guy Fawkes masks as a symbol of defiance against the government.
Protesters paved the streets of central Hong Kong with fake bank notes they usually use at funerals, tossing wads of them into the air as they marched in black.
The notes, many marked ‘Hell Bank Note’, were a vivid expression of what many protesters say feels like a day of mourning for them as Communist leaders in Beijing celebrate 70 years in power.
Smaller crowds rallied in a number of other districts with clashes quickly breaking out.
In Tsuen Wan, masked protesters used umbrellas and sticks to beat riot officers after they made a series of arrests. The officers retreated into a nearby town hall after they came under a barrage of projectiles.
In Wong Tai Sin, police fired brief volleys of tear gas against protesters who had blocked nearby roads.
The biggest march remained on Hong Kong island, a frequent battlefield between police and protesters where multiple malls and shops remained shuttered for the public holiday.
‘Three months on and our five demands have yet to be achieved. We need to continue our fight,’ a protester, wearing a Guy Fawkes or ‘V for Vendetta’ mask, told AFP.
The protests came as lavish celebrations were taking place in Beijing, including a huge military parade through Tiananmen Square under the gaze of China’s strongman President Xi Jinping.
Among those watching the parade was Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who has historically low approval ratings at home as public anger boils over Beijing’s increased control of the semi-autonomous city.
Millions have hit the streets in record-breaking numbers while hardcore activists have repeatedly clashed with police, in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s 1997 handover by Britain.
In a vivid illustration of the political insecurity now coursing through Hong Kong, city officials watched a morning harbourside flag-raising ceremony from the safety of the nearby convention centre.
Since the 1997 handover, officials had always attended the ceremony outside, even during torrential downpours.
But popular protests that erupted in June have made it increasingly risky for officials to appear in public.
A flag-raising ceremony on July 1 – the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover – was also watched from indoors as protesters flooded the streets and later laid siege to the city’s legislature.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung delivered an address in which he praised China’s development over the last 70 years.
But he said officials recognised they needed ‘new thinking to try to address deep-rooted problems’ in Hong Kong.
Throughout the morning police ramped up security checks and conducted frequent stop and searches while authorities announced the closure of a dozen subway stations.
But the measures did little to halt crowds appearing in the afternoon.
Rival pro-China rallies were also held.
In the morning, a crowd of some 50 people waved flags and chanted ‘Long live the motherland!’
‘We are Chinese and the whole nation is celebrating,’ Kitty Chan, 30, told AFP.
Hong Kong’s protests were initially sparked by a now scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland but have since snowballed into a much wider movement of popular anger against city leaders and Beijing.
Among the demands made by protesters is an inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 1,500 people arrested and universal suffrage – all of which have been rejected by Beijing and Lam.
