The liaison office was vandalized by a hard-core group of protesters last month, prompting China to denounce them — and to place a plastic shield around a national crest outside the building, which protesters had spattered with ink.
Street violence has come in fits and starts during this summer’s protests, and life in Hong Kong has otherwise proceeded relatively normally. But there is growing fear among a wide cross-section of Hong Kong society that the violence, which has included a mob attack on protesters, could eventually lead to deaths.
Some protesters have in recent weeks thrown bricks, firebombs and other objects at the police, who as of mid-August had fired more than 1,800 rounds of tear gas, plus rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, to disperse crowds.
Last weekend, the police used water cannon trucks for the first time since the protests began in June, and a few officers drew pistols on protesters, some of whom were charging at them with sticks. One officer fired a warning shot into the air after one of his colleagues fell to the ground.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/world/asia/hong-kong-protest.html
Comments