- Title: HONGKONG-CHINA/SCUFFLES Hong Kong riot police disperse protesters
- Date: 28th November 2014
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (NOVEMBER 29, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ++NIGHT SHOTS++ VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS USING UMBRELLAS AS SHIELDS PLAIN CLOTHED POLICEMAN SPEAKING ON MICROPHONE BEHIND RIOT POLICE WITH HELMETS AND SHIELDS PROTESTERS RIOT POLICE STORMING INTO CROWD VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN RUNNING INTO CROWD POLICEMEN TAKING PROTESTER AWAY / PROTESTERS TRYING TO CLIMB OVER FENCE POLICEMEN WITH PROTESTER ON GROUND POLICEMEN TAKING THE ARRESTED PROTESTER THROUGH CROWD CROWD POLICEMEN HOLDING BATONS STANDING ON GUARD / POLICEMEN TAKING ARRESTED MAN AWAY VARIOUS OF POLICEMAN STANDING ON PLATFORM ASKING PROTESTERS TO LEAVE RIOT POLICE HOLDING BATONS STANDING RIOT POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF SUBWAY STATION WITH CROWD ON TOP PROTESTERS SHIELDING THEMSELVES WITH UMBRELLAS STANDING BEHIND CAR DRIVING THROUGH CROWD VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN TAKING ARRESTED PROTESTERS AWAY TRAFFIC / POLICEMEN STANDING
- Embargoed: 13th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAL41JFQXDMDUA18UE0YB1L58N
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Hong Kong riot police and pro-democracy activists clashed in the early hours of Saturday (November 29) as demonstrators tried to reclaim the streets of Mong Kok district.
After hours of tense face-offs, with police showing relative restraint at first, hundreds of riot police baton-charged the crowds with shields, wrestling a string of protesters to the ground in chaotic scenes.
Several bands comprised of hundreds of protesters, some of whom threw water at police, retreated but regrouped swiftly in other spots, stoked on rather than cowed by the clampdown.
Many rushed to lay fresh barricades across roads amid a wail of sirens and loud chants for "real full democracy".
The fresh tensions will be a set-back for authorities who have struggled for months to find a resolution to the most serious governance crisis to be faced in the former British colony since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The protesters are demanding open nominations for the Chinese-controlled city's next leader nomination in 2017. Beijing said in August it would allow a vote, but only among pre-screened candidates.
The protests had simmered for three consecutive nights in Mong Kok since police staged a swift and surprisingly smooth clearance of the area's protest encampment on Wednesday (November 26), arresting more than a hundred people including key student leaders Joshua Wong and Lester Shum.
Friday (November 28) marked two months since police first fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators from the main protest site in the Admiralty district next to government offices in the heart of the Asian financial centre.
The protests, which have lasted well beyond many people's expectations, drew more than 100,000 on to the streets of Hong Kong at the peak. While numbers have dwindled, they have swelled to several thousand at weekends and at key moments given a deep-rooted frustration at China and Hong Kong's refusal to in any way offer to meet their democratic demands. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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