Hong Kong police fire tear gas to break up Christmas Eve protest chaos (updated)

MTR

24/12/2019 13:08

* Protesters face off against riot police in shopping malls
    * Chaotic scenes as protesters hurl objects at police
    * Police spray pepper spray at protesters in mall
    * HSBC branch, Starbucks branch trashed by protesters

 (Adds HSBC branch trashing, two MTR stations shuttered, police
statement)
    By Clare Jim and Marius Zaharia
    HONG KONG, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Hong Kong riot police fired
rounds of tear gas at thousands of protesters, many wearing
masks and reindeer horns, after scuffles in shopping malls and
in a prime tourist district as pro-democracy rallies escalated
into Christmas Eve chaos.
    Protesters inside the malls threw umbrellas and other
objects at police who responded by beating some demonstrators
with batons, with one pointing his gun at the crowd, but not
firing. 
    Some demonstrators occupied the main roads and blocked
traffic outside the malls and nearby luxury hotels in the Tsim
Sha Tsui tourist district of Kowloon. 
    A man was shown on public broadcaster RTHK as falling from
the second floor to the first floor of a mall in the rural Yuen
Long district as he tried to evade police. He was conscious as
he was taken away by paramedics.
     There was a heavy police presence into the night in Tsim
Sha Tsui with hundreds of officers standing guard on the roads
as thousands of Christmas shoppers and tourists, some wearing
Santa hats, looked on. A water canon and several armoured police
Jeeps were parked nearby.
    Dozens of protesters started digging up bricks from the
roads and set up barricades, as police said in a statement they
would deploy "minimum force to effect dispersal" and arrest
"rioters".
    Many families with children had congregated in the area to
view the Christmas lights along the promenade, the spectacular
backdrop of Hong Kong island on the opposite side of the
harbour.
    The protests in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, now in their
seventh month, have lost some of the scale and intensity of
earlier violent confrontations. A peaceful rally this month
still drew 800,000 people, according to organisers, showing
strong support for the movement.
    Scores of black clad, mask wearing protesters chanted
slogans including "Revive Hong Kong, revolution of our time,"
and "Hong Kong independence" as they roamed the malls.
    "Lots of people are shopping so it's a good opportunity to
spread the message and tell people what we are fighting for."
said Ken, an 18-year-old student.
    "We fight for freedom, we fight for our future."
     A bank branch of global banking group HSBC was vandalised
in Mong Kok, according to television footage. The bank on Friday
became embroiled in a saga involving an official crackdown on a
fund-raising platform supporting protesters in need.
    HSBC denied any link between a police clampdown on the
platform, called Spark Alliance, and the earlier closure of an
HSBC bank account tied to the group.
    Protesters had nevertheless called for a boycott of the bank
at its headquarters in the heart of Hong Kong's financial
district.
    Around 100 protesters also trashed a Starbucks inside a mall
called Mira Place, breaking the glass counters displaying
pastries and spraying graffiti on the walls.
    The coffee shop chain has been a common target of protesters
after the daughter of the founder of Maxim's Caterers, which
owns the local franchise, condemned the protesters at a U.N.
human rights council in Geneva.
    Metro operator MTR Corp  0066.HK  said it shut two stations,
Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui, early on Tuesday night due to
protests in the area. Train services were meant to run overnight
on Christmas Eve. 
    The Civil Human Rights Front, which has organised some of
the biggest marches involving more than a million people, has
applied to stage another march on New Year's Day.
    Police have arrested more than 6,000 people since the
protests escalated in June, including a large number during a
protracted, violent siege at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University in mid-November.
    Many Hong Kong residents are angry at what they see as
Beijing's meddling in the freedoms promised to the former
British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
    China denies interfering and says it is committed to the
"one country, two systems" formula put in place at that time and
has blamed foreign forces for fomenting unrest.
    In a video posted on her Facebook page, Chief Executive
Carrie Lam wished Hong Kong citizens "a peaceful and safe Merry
Christmas".
    Lam has so far refused to grant protesters' demands which
include an independent inquiry into police behaviour and the
implementation of full universal suffrage.

 (Reporting by Clare Jim, Marius Zaharia, Twinnie Siu, Mari
Saito and James Pomfret; writing by Farah Master; editing by
Lincoln Feast and Nick Macfie)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com))