- Title: Hong Kong police draw gun, use pepper spray to clear protesters
- Date: 22nd December 2019
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (DECEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE CHARGING IN, PICKING UP CHINESE FLAG, SCUFFLING PROTESTERS AND SPRAYING PEPPER SPRAY POLICE ARRESTING PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 5th January 2020 11:21
- Keywords: Arsenal Clash Hong Kong Mesut Ozil Police Uighur Muslim Xinjiang protest
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB230P3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Hong Kong riot police clashed with protesters on Sunday (December 22) as they tried to disperse crowds in the heart heart of the city's financial district after a largely peaceful rally in support of China's ethnic Uighurs turned chaotic.
Police used pepper spray and one drew a gun as protesters heckled them, pushed them and threw things at them.
Earlier in the afternoon more than 1,000 people rallied calmly, waving Uighur flags and posters and holding up signs reading "Free Uyghur, Free Hong Kong" and "Fake 'autonomy' in China results in genocide".
The protest comes after midfielder Mesut Ozil of English soccer club Arsenal caused a furor in China after he criticized the country's policies toward the Muslim ethnic minority in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang.Ozil, a German Muslim of Turkish origin, tweeted that Uighurs were "warriors who resist persecution" and criticized both China's strong hand in Xinjiang and the relative silence of Muslims in response.
(Production: Mehmet Emin Caliskan, Joyce Zhou, Yoyo Chow, Masako Iijima) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
