- Title: Hong Kong police arrest 400 protesters on New Year's Day
- Date: 1st January 2020
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JANUARY 1, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS RUNNING IN THE STREET AS POLICE VEHICLE ARRIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG SENIOR POLICE SUPERINTENDENT, NG LOK CHUN, SAYING: "So as of now, police have made around 400 arrests. Offences include unlawful assembly and possession of offensive weapons." RIOT POLICE DETAINING PROTESTER PROTESTERS HOLDING UP HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG SENIOR POLICE SUPERINTENDENT, NG LOK CHUN, SAYING: "But some of the rioters, they refused to leave and continue to throw hard objects at our officers. At this juncture, some of my officers gave warnings to these rioters not to throw hard objects, including bricks, including paint bombs and also water bottles. Since they ignored our warnings, some of our officers were worried about their own personal safety and actually two handheld tear gas grenades were used to disperse the rioters right in front of them." PROTESTERS HOLDING UP HANDS, FACING BUILDINGS VARIOUS OF DETAINED PROTESTERS SITTING, HOLDING HANDS BEHIND HEAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG SENIOR POLICE SUPERINTENDENT, NG LOK CHUN, SAYING: "And the reason for using force at that time is because some of the rioters were throwing petrol bombs at our officers." PROTESTERS SITTING ON GROUND / POLICE STANDING IN FRONT
- Embargoed: 15th January 2020 16:20
- Keywords: Hong Kong Hong Kong protesters arrested Hong Kong protests arrests protest
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001BUCB70N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hong Kong police arrested nearly 400 protesters as a march on New Year's Day (January 1) spiralled into chaotic scenes.
Organisers estimated just over one million people took part, but police said 60,000 protesters attended at the march's peak.
The violence broke out during the largely peaceful march as masses of citizens pressed authorities for further concessions in the Chinese-ruled city.
In the Wanchai bar district, some protesters had spray-painted graffiti and smashed cash machines in an HSBC bank branch when riot police moved in.
The atmosphere grew tense in several districts on Hong Kong island, as hundreds of protesters dug in, forming road blocks, setting fires and throwing a few petrol bombs.
(Production: Joyce Zhou, Ebrahim Harris, Parul Gupta) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
