Hong Kong police use tear gas on protesters
Source: AP-Excite
By KELVIN CHAN
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police used tear gas Sunday and warned of further measures as they tried to clear thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered at government headquarters in a challenge to Beijing over its decision to restrict democratic reforms for the semiautonomous city.
After spending hours holding the protesters at bay, police lobbed canisters of tear gas into the crowd on Sunday evening. The searing fumes sent demonstrators fleeing down the road, but many came right back to continue their protest.
The protesters were trying to join a sit-in outside government headquarters calling for Beijing to grant genuine democratic reforms to the former British colony. The sit-in, however, became overshadowed by running confrontations on the surrounding streets between police and those who were blocked from entering the protest zone.
Students and activists have been camped out since late Friday on the streets outside the government complex, located just a few blocks from Hong Kong's downtown financial district. Students started the rally, but leaders of the broader Occupy Central civil disobedience movement said early Sunday that they were joining them to kick-start a long-threatened mass sit-in to demand that an election for Hong Kong's leader be held without Beijing's interference.
FULL story at link.
Riot police use tear gas against protesters after thousands of people block a main road at the financial central district in Hong Kong, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. Authorities launched their crackdown after the protest spiraled into an extraordinary scene of chaos as the crowd jammed a busy road and clashed with officers wielding pepper spray. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
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