Tear gas and rubber bullets fired as Hong Kong returns

International Live: Hong Kong descended into chaos Sunday night as riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government protesters hours after China’s office in the city was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing’s rule.

Acrid clouds of tear gas wafted through the city’s densely packed commercial district as police battled masked protesters after another huge protest march, with seemingly no end in sight to the turmoil engulfing the finance hub.

A group of masked, stick-wielding government supporters also descended on a group of protesters in a train station, beating multiple people including reporters who live-streamed the assaults. Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and
pockets of hardcore protesters.

Tear gas and rubber bullets have become frequent while the city’s parliament was trashed by protesters earlier this month as Beijing’s authority faces its most serious challenge since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.

Earlier in the evening protesters had descended on the Liason Office the department that represents China’s central government which was pelted with eggs and daubed with graffiti. “We are here to declare that Beijing is the one violating our governing values and judicial procedures,” a 19-year- old protester who gave his first name as Tony, told AFP.

Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands are met, such as the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam, an independent inquiry into police tactics, amnesty and a permanent withdrawal of the bill.

Dhaka 22 July (campuslive24.com)//MIH

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