HONG KONG: Hong Kong police fired tear gas and high-pressure water hoses against protesters who had massed outside government headquarters in opposition to a proposed extradition Bill that has become a lightning rod for concerns over greater Chinese control and erosion of civil liberties in the semiautonomous territory.The afternoon violence yesterday marked a major escalation in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s biggest political crisis in years.
It came after protesters earlier in the day forced the delay of a legislative debate over the Bill, which would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent for trial in mainland China.
Earlier, a curt government statement said the legislative session scheduled to begin at 11am would be “changed to a later time.” But they are also giving vent to young Hong Kongers alienated by a political process dominated by the territory’s economic elite. Police spokesman Gong Weng Chun defended the decision to use tear gas and other non-lethal weapons to quell the demonstration.
Earlier in the day, protesters said they hoped the blockade would persuade Lam’s administration to shelve the proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance.
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