Hong Kong protesters, police in dusk standoff after tear gas breaks up rally
Hong Kong police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters, many wearing banned face masks, who had converged on the Kowloon harbor-front hotel district on Sunday to denounce perceived police brutality over months of unrest.
There was a standoff as dusk began to fall, with protesters and bemused tourists gathered on the pavements of the key shopping and hotel artery of Nathan Road, which police had earlier cleared in slow-moving cordons.
Riot police stood by outside the Chungking Mansions high-rise warren of South Asian restaurants and backpacker hostels, shields and batons at the ready. Protesters shouted obscenities in colourful Cantonese at “black police”, referring to perceived over-use of force by the authorities.
“Fight for Hong Kong!” protesters shouted, “five demands, not one less”, a reference to demands for universal suffrage and an independent inquiry into police actions, among other things.
The police had arrived earlier in the afternoon, warning protesters to leave the Tsim Sha Tsui district, opposite the British colonial-era Peninsula Hotel.
The number of protesters had grown by the minute, streaming down Nathan Road to the water’s edge, facing the dramatic skyline of Hong Kong island opposite, but many fled after the tear gas and pepper spray were fired.
Hong Kong protesters, police in dusk standoff after tear gas breaks up rally