At least forty-one people were hospitalized, two of them in serious condition, as of 7am today following a series of clashes that sprang up around Hong Kong as part of a city-wide strike calling for democratic reforms.
Tear gas was fired in at least eight different locations across Hong Kong yesterday, as protests turned neighborhoods into battlegrounds between unruly protesters seemingly hellbent on making their presence felt, and embittered police apparently equally determined to bring the long-running protest movement to a decisive end.
Breaking with what has become the norm for recent protests, tear gas rounds were flying through the air as early as mid-afternoon as police sought to disperse crowds of protesters, many of whom targeted police stations with stone-throwing and graffiti for the day’s guerrilla demonstrations.
Authorities responded with tear gas, and in some cases, rubber bullets, in Tin Shui Wai, Wong Tai Sin, Admiralty, Tai Po, Tsuen Wan, Sham Shui Po, Tsim Sha Tsui and North Point.
North Point also saw nighttime clashes between protesters and men armed with long bamboo poles in scenes that echoed the assault on Yuen Long MTR station by pro-Beijing thugs on July 21.
WATCH: A fight broke out between a group of men brandishing wooden sticks and anti-government protesters in Hong Kong's North Point district, as chaos continued into the night https://t.co/LvUFd3XSpd
(Videos: Social media, Twitter/rhokilpatrick) pic.twitter.com/z58uh1CK09
— CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) August 5, 2019
Protesters, who outnumbered the men, ultimately chased them into a nearby building.
Similar violence was also reported far away in Tsuen Wan late into the night.
A video is circulating on Telegram showing people holding metal and wooden sticks. People sharing this video say they’ve taken the video on Chung On St in Tsuen Wan. Meanwhile, msgs are spreading online that a mob are attacking people with knives there. #antiELAB #ExtraditionLaw pic.twitter.com/QLJrFJ1kH5
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) August 5, 2019
Groups holding knifes, metal poles and sticks were seen yelling at protesters. Protesters and their antagonists later clashed, with at least one protester reportedly stabbed by one of the assailants.
Images circulated online showing bloody black-clad protesters. The SCMP cited an eyewitness as saying the white-shirted attackers were carrying knives, saying that protesters had been stabbed in the legs and chest during the Tsuen Wan brawl.
https://www.facebook.com/HKCOWY/photos/a.854777567912716/2444704162253374/?type=3&theater
Protesters also fought back against the men, with one video showing black-shirted protesters attacking a man in white. According to Stand News, the man in white was “left behind” by his comrades, and was surrounded by protesters.
The video shows the man in white being beaten as he lays on the ground, as bystanders yell at protesters to stop.
Some attributed the Tsuen Wan violence to a group of men in sky-blue “I love Hong Kong” t-shirts who were spotted patrolling the district. Apple Daily reported that some of the blue-shirts were heard threatening to stab protesters.
https://twitter.com/madeinhomekong/status/1158422521122701312
The Tsuen Wan police station, which also serves as the New Territories South regional headquarters, was surrounded by protesters last night, with video from NowTV showing protesters pelting the building with bricks and eggs.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets from the station in response, RTHK reports.
Protesters also laid siege to police stations in other districts including Mong Kok, Tuen Mun, Shum Shui Po, and Tai Po, and briefly gathered at police headquarters in Wan Chai.
Protesters started surrounding the Tuen Mun police station at around 6pm, started fires outside and throwing bricks at the building. Police deployed tear gas after 10pm in areas near the Tuen Mun MTR stations and the V City mall, according to Ming Pao.
A livestream from the Stand News shows tear gas and a standoff between protesters and police.
Meanwhile, at the New Territories North regional headquarters in Tai Po, police also fired tear gas at protesters outside the station. Protesters had begun gathering at the Fung Shui Square Football pitch at 1pm, then began blocking roads near the station.
Demonstrators threw objects at police, who responded with tear gas starting at around 5pm, RTHK reports.
Many protesters and locals took shelter in the Tai Po Mega Mall nearby, with some protesters blocking off the entrance of the mall, Ming Pao reports. Some also threw bricks and reportedly shot metal ball bearings from slingshots as police advanced and attempted to clear the scene.
A group of protesters also gathered at the Sham Shui Po police station at night, with police firing tear gas starting around 8pm, RTHK reports.
Protesters returned fire with bricks, and at one point reportedly started a fire on a metal cart and pushed it towards the police station, Headline Daily reports.
Group of protesters lingered in nearby Cheung Sha Wan shouting insults at police, calling them “triads,” while officers countered that protesters were “worse than triads,” according to RTHK.
By late afternoon, police had announced that they had already arrested scores of people in connection with the unrest. The government, meanwhile, issued a statement early this morning “strongly condemning” protesters and calling the escalating violence “outrageous.”
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