HONG KONG—Protesters in helmets and gas masks clashed with riot police Saturday, as the city’s pro-democracy movement took a confrontational turn after nearly two weeks of relatively peaceful turnouts.
Tear gas engulfed the industrial neighborhood of Kwun Tong as protesters were more aggressive, blocking roads, surrounding the local police station and sawing down at least one video-surveillance pole, which protesters said could be used to spy on people.
Protesters with poles fought face to face with the charging police, knocking some to the ground and sending others scrambling back. Some threw rocks at the police. A small firebomb exploded amid the melee. Officers made a handful of arrests.
The action in this 12th straight weekend of protests followed a massive peaceful demonstration a week earlier and comments from the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, that she’d be open to talking to the community. In a post on her official Instagram account on Saturday—ahead of the latest violence—she said everyone was tired after months of protests and asked if “we can sit down and talk about it?” after a calmer week.
Saturday’s clashes were the latest in a campaign of demonstrations initially sparked in June by concerns over a bill that would have legalized extradition to China. They have since ballooned into a full-blown antigovernment protest movement. There have been divergences among the protest camp, with a hard-core group of campaigners more willing to directly confront police on the front lines.
“I’m not saying I support violence,” said one of the protesters Saturday, a 34-year-old freelance videographer who identified himself as Fung. “I support fighting back to protect.”
He showed two tattoos on his arm, one with the Chinese characters for “safe” and another in English: “Be strong to be useful.”
The latest clash came a day after thousands of Hong Kongers formed human chains throughout the city in a peaceful pledge of solidarity.
It was a much different scene on Saturday. Adding to the turbulence: The city’s subway operator stopped services at multiple stations. The MTR system has been the lifeblood of the protest movement, allowing demonstrators to move around the city with relative ease. But Chinese state media has criticized the subway operator, MTR Corp., for being soft on protesters.
Carrie Ng, a Hong Kong resident, got a notification from her MTR app Saturday morning saying some subway stations near the protest site would be closed. With such short notice, she rushed to get the last available train to her destination. “It is the government who is doing the uncooperative movement today,” said the 33-year-old Ms. Ng. “This is so disturbing.”
She said she suspected the MTR’s decision was motivated by the government’s attempt to discourage people from protesting. “If Carrie Lam was meant to mend fences, why would the MTR stations be shut down today?” Ms. Ng said. “This is just her excuse.”
In Mrs. Lam’s Instagram post, she said her administration wanted to take the opportunity to start a dialogue without division between class, color or age. “We must continue to listen to views with our hearts,” she said.
On Saturday, protesters gathered in Kwun Tong—across the harbor from Hong Kong island on the east side of Kowloon—through the afternoon, setting up barricades, digging out paving stones for ammunition, and donning gas masks and other equipment. Around 4:30 p.m. police held up a sign reading: “Stop charging or we use force.”
Shortly after, a glass bottle flew into the air and smashed on the pavement near the police. Within minutes, the police rushed into the crowd, moving protesters further away from the Ngau Tau Kok Police station. A few minutes later, police raised another sign warning of tear gas.
As the sun was setting, protesters pointed blue and white lasers at police officers, who continued firing tear gas into the crowd. Protesters scattered momentarily but repeatedly returned to hold their ground.
Many protesters focused on the new program of installing surveillance light posts and the backlash that has ensued from it.
“If they keep monitoring us, there’s no difference from China, and we’re not yet China,” said Ms. Chow, a 20-year-old student who declined to give her first name.
The smell of burned electrical wires hung in the air on Sheung Yuet Road, where protesters sawed down a smart lamp post and tore out its insides, along with the contents of about another dozen. They also burned one lamp post.
A 29-year-old protester with a tool kit said he was looking for any of the pole’s sensors that had been exposed to take home and examine, to determine what the poles do with the data they collect. But he was too late—all of the sensors had already been taken by police walking the street with evidence bags, or perhaps other protesters.
Lok, a part-time teacher in her 40s, handed out aluminum foil to protesters advising them to wrap their wallets to avoid being identified by their local IDs, which contain contactless chips.
Ms. Lok said she read online about the foil and decided to come out to the protest with two 130-meter rolls. “Wrap your whole wallet,” she told protesters.
Kwun Tong resident Kelvin Lee marched with protesters in a face mask and badminton racket on his way to play a match. He said locals were concerned about the new lamp posts equipped with cameras and were glad protesters were bringing attention to the program.
“Before it starts is a good time to raise your hand and say we have a problem with it” said the 40-year-old IT worker. He said he didn’t want to see protesters destroy the public infrastructure without giving the government a chance to respond, but “maybe if it’s a last resort, it will have to happen.”
—Natasha Khan and Joyu Wang contributed to this article.
Write to Steven Russolillo at steven.russolillo@wsj.com and Eun-Young Jeong at Eun-Young.Jeong@wsj.com
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/violence-erupts-as-hong-kong-protesters-and-riot-police-resume-hostilities-11566638414
2019-08-24 11:28:00Z
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