Hong Kong anti-government protesters crowded an upmarket shopping mall in running clashes with police on Sunday, with several suffering bloody wounds a day after parts of the Chinese-ruled city became a battleground.
A human chain in Cityplaza, in the eastern suburb of Taikoo Shing, turned into a bloody face-to-face conflict with police, running up and down escalators where families with young children had been window shopping just minutes before and watching skating on the ice rink.
Restaurant vandalised
Police said protesters had vandalised a restaurant after a peaceful chanting of slogans. Several people were wounded, one man in a white tee-shirt being beaten with sticks by protesters. Another man lay in a pool of blood on the pavement. Media reports said a knifeman had attacked four people. Broadcaster RTHK said Democratic district Councillor Andrew Chiu was among the wounded and that part of his ear had been bitten off.
It was not immediately possible to verify the reports.
Police made several arrests as protesters shouted “black police!”, a reference to their perceived brutality. Police fired pepper spray at reporters when they got too close. One journalist was arrested. There were also scuffles, confrontations and vandalism in malls in the New Territories towns of Tai Po, Tuen Mun and Sha Tin, where police fired pepper spray as protesters hurled abuse. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, which Britain returned to Chinese rule in 1997, battled police across the main island on Saturday, furious at Communist Party leaders in Beijing and perceived Chinese meddling with Hong Kong’s freedoms, which China denies.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam will fly to China this week to discuss how to make it easier for Hong Kong people to live and work on the mainland, her office said on Sunday. Ms. Lam will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a meeting the next day of the “leading group” for developing the Greater Bay Area of southern China.
