Police Fire Tear Gas as Tens of Thousands Demonstrate in Hong Kong

cde.news desk 27 July 2019, 14:38 · 1 min read

epa07743770 Riot police fire tear gas during a mass rally in Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong, China, 27 July 2019. Anti-extradition bill protesters took to the streets to denounce the break out of violence on 21 July when more than 100 white-clad men suspected of being triads members beat up travellers in the Yuen Long MTR station. Some of whose victims had come from a march against the government?s now-suspended extradition bill. EPA-EFE/RITCHIE B. TONGO

Hong Kong police have fired tear gas at an unauthorised protest involving tens of thousands of people.

BBC reports that the “demonstrators had been marching through the northern district of Yuen Long, condemning an assault on pro-democracy protesters by armed masked men that took place there last week.”

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Police were accused of turning a blind eye and colluding with the attackers, claims they deny. Hong Kong has seen seven weeks of anti-government and pro-democracy protests.

The New York Times reports that the protest in the district, Yuen Long, is an angry response to an assault by more than 100 men, armed with sticks and metal bars, on demonstrators and others in a train station there last Sunday night that left at least 45 people injured.

Masked protesters attempt to dismantle a fence separating two roads on Long Yip street.

Some are urging only those who are wearing gloves to touch the fence, while others are calling on people to shield them using umbrellas. https://t.co/xTFFQ9TiE5 #HongKong pic.twitter.com/Y993jDiOg9

— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) July 27, 2019

BBC / New York Times / Hong Kong Free Press

Topics Hong Kong