Riot police yesterday stormed several malls in Hong Kong in a move to thwart more pro-democracy protests, as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) prepared to head to Beijing for talks on deepening economic integration between the territory and mainland China.
A bloody knife fight late last night left six people wounded, including pro-democracy lawmaker Andrew Chiu (趙家賢), who had his ear bitten off.
A second man was unconscious in a growing pool of blood as bystanders desperately tried to stem wounds to his back.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Another man in a gray T-shirt had been beaten bloody by the crowd who accused him of carrying out the attack and wounding multiple people.
Radio Television Hong Kong news, which filmed the brawl, reported that the attacker was a Mandarin speaker and had been arguing with his victims about politics before he pulled out a knife.
Earlier in the day, there were calls online urging protesters to gather in seven locations to sustain a push for political reform following a chaotic day of protests and clashes with police on Saturday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
However, most of the rallies did not pan out yesterday as scores of riot police took positions, searching and arresting people, dispersing crowds and blocking access to a park next to Lam’s office.
Still, small pockets of hardcore demonstrators managed to cause some trouble.
As some protesters chanted slogans at the New Town Plaza shopping mall in Sha Tin in the New Territories, police said they moved in after some “masked rioters” with fire extinguishers vandalized turnstiles and smashed windows at the subway station linked to the mall.
In two malls in the north of the New Territories, protesters vandalized shops, threw paint and attacked an outlet of Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya.
Police rushed into one of the malls after objects were thrown at them. At another, protesters used umbrellas and cable ties to lock the mall entrance to prevent police from entering.
Police also stormed the Cityplaza shopping complex on Hong Kong Island after some protesters sprayed graffiti on a restaurant wall.
A human chain of dozens of people was broken up and angry shoppers heckled the police.
Lam’s office yesterday said that she would head to Beijing tomorrow. She is currently in Shanghai.
She is due to hold talks on Wednesday with Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng (韓正) and join a meeting on the development of the Greater Bay Area that aims to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in southern China.
The ambitious project would help make it easier for Hong Kong residents to work and reside in mainland cities, and bolster the flow of people and goods, Lam’s office said in a statement.
Late on Saturday, Xinhua news agency condemned the “barbaric acts of mobs,” after lobby of its Asia-Pacific office building in the territory was vandalized and torched earlier in the day.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association also deplored “any act of sabotage against the media” and called for an end to violence against the press.
Molotov cocktails were also thrown outside Cheung Kong Center — the nerve center of billionaire Li Ka-shing’s (李嘉誠) business empire, the South China Morning Post reported.
Police said at least 200 people were arrested on Saturday for offenses including unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage.
Officers confiscated 188 gasoline bombs, several extendable batons and pepper sprays, the police department said.
Additional reporting by AFP and Bloomberg
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