Yahoo News Hong Kong protests: Police fire tear gas and water cannons at protesters who lobbed Molotov cocktails outside government office
More violence has erupted in Hong Kong, with police firing tear gas and chemical-laced water after protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails outside the government headquarters.
Pro-democracy supporters – a mix of hard-core protesters wearing masks and families with children – had marched through downtown Hong Kong on Sunday in defiance of a police ban.
But trouble later flared up when hundreds of protesters targeted the government complex, throwing petrol bombs and bricks through police barriers.
Officers responded by firing volleys of tear gas and using water cannon trucks to spray the chemical-laced liquid.
Protesters retreated but re-grouped in the nearby Wan Chai neighborhood, setting a fire outside a subway station exit and on the streets.
They fled again after riot police advanced.
It comes after pro-democracy supporters clashed with pro-Beijing activists in the Amoy Plaza shopping centre on Saturday.
The latest clashes, which came amid the mid-autumn festival holiday, followed several nights of peaceful rallies that featured mass singing by pro-democracy supporters.
Protesters have refused to yield despite the government's promise to withdraw an extradition bill that triggered the protests months ago.
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They have widened their demands to include direct elections for their leaders and police accountability.
Many saw the extradition bill, which would have allowed some Hong Kong suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, as an example of Hong Kong's autonomy eroding since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Additional reporting by AP.
