Hong Kong’s legislature has suspended meetings following violent clashes between police and protesters who oppose a bill allowing suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.
The events in the former British colony mark possibly its biggest political crisis since being handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 and pose a profound challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The bill is seen as tightening Beijing’s control over the territory.
Hong Kong’s police commissioner said 11 protesters were arrested. CNN reported that, according to a spokesperson from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, the clashes left at least 81 people injured. The media outlet also described how:
An estimated 5,000 riot police fired tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and bean bags at tens of thousands of protesters as they forcibly cleared streets around the city’s Legislative Council in Admiralty.
Stephen Lo Wai-chung said those arrested were accused of disorderly conduct and crimes related to rioting, likely adding to complaints that the government is using such charges to intimidate political opponents and deter further protests.
Nearly two years ago, Xi issued a stern address in the city stating that Beijing would not tolerate Hong Kong becoming a base for what the ruling Communist Party considers a foreign-inspired campaign to undermine its rule over the vast nation of 1.4 billion people.
Yet the mostly young throngs of well-organised protesters seemed little deterred by such threats, even as they took pains to remain anonymous by wearing masks, declining to give their full names to journalists and using cash rather than stored value cards to buy subway tickets.
The demonstrations follow the 30th anniversary of China’s bloody suppression of the student-led pro-democracy protests centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989.
Hong Kong held one of its biggest rallies in recent years to honour the hundreds or possibly thousands of demonstrators killed in the army assault and to demand a full investigation into the crackdown, in what was seen as a further sign of defiance against Beijing.
Mr Xi’s administration is also dealing with the trade war with the United States that has thrown its export-driven economic model into question, potentially threatening its relationship with China’s urban middle class that has been predicated on accepting strict political controls in exchange for improving standards of living.
As one of the world’s most important financial centres, Hong Kong also stands to suffer from the continuing impasse, adding to frustrations among young people over stagnating salaries and skyrocketing housing prices.
Heavy rain on Thursday morning kept fresh street protests from following those on Wednesday that shut down government headquarters and the Legislative Council on the day it was to debate the extradition bill.
Police kept a heavy presence around the government compound on Thursday while protesters sought to maintain pressure by blocking doors on subway trains and driving slowly on main roads.
In their black garb, use of social media and amorphous organisation demonstrators reflected the tactics of left-wing activists in Europe and the United States referred to as the Black Bloc, who have come to prominence at anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist protests such as that surrounding the 2017 G20 meeting in Hamburg.
Beijing has condemned the protests but so far not indicated whether it was planning harsher measures.
In past instances of unrest, the authorities have waited months or years before rounding up protest leaders.
