HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police used pepper
spray early on Thursday to stop pro-democracy protesters from blocking a
major road near the office of the city's embattled leader amid public
anger over the police beating of a protester a day earlier.
At police headquarters in the nearby district of Wan Chai,
hundreds of people gathered outside into the early hours of the morning
to express outrage at the beating, with dozens queuing to lodge formal
complaints over the incident.
Authorities on
Wednesday said police involved in the beating of Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, a
member of the pro-democracy Civic Party, would be suspended.
Footage of the beating has gone viral and injected fresh
momentum into a protest movement that had been flagging after nearly
three weeks of demonstrations over Chinese restrictions on how Hong Kong
will choose its next leader.
In the latest
confrontation, Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK said protesters
rushed onto Lung Wo road next to the office of Chief Executive Leung
Chun-ying, dragging plastic barriers and other objects with them. A
Reuters photographer saw protesters later scuffling with a small group
of police on the side of the road. Police repelled them using pepper
spray.
Protesters caught police by surprise 24 hours
earlier, erecting makeshift barricades to block the thoroughfare,
prompting police to move in and arrest 45 people and clear the road.
Traffic chaos at other protest sites in the city has severely disrupted
some parts of the Asian financial hub.
At its peak,
100,000 protesters had been on the streets. Those numbers have dwindled
significantly. But a hardcore group of demonstrators, mostly students,
has kept up the pressure on Hong Kong authorities, who have called the
protests illegal.
China rules Hong Kong under a "one
country, two systems" formula that accords the city a degree of
autonomy and freedom not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal
suffrage an eventual goal.
But Beijing has said only
candidates screened by a nominating committee will be able to contest a
full city-wide vote to choose the next chief executive in 2017.
"POLICE HAVE BETRAYED US"
Tsang was taken to hospital after being beaten
and activists released photographs showing bruising on his face and
body.
"I'm afraid that one day I will come out for a
protest and the police will do the same thing to me," said Jen Lau, 28,
a social worker who was sitting on the sidewalk outside the police
headquarters in Wan Chai just after midnight.
"Even
though he is a protester he should not be treated this way. I think the
police should receive disciplinary action or something even more
serious."
Several social workers printed a "wanted"
poster with color pictures of the police officers they said were
responsible for the beating, and were carrying it up and down the line
of those waiting to file complaints.
"I think the
police have betrayed us Hong Kong citizens," said Tony Yip, 23, a
research assistant at a science museum. "They are using violence against
ordinary citizens."
Leung has said there was "zero
chance" China's leaders would give in to protesters' demands, a view
shared by most political analysts and many Hong Kong citizens.
Protesters have also demanded Leung resign.
China's
ruling Communist Party believes it has offered enough concessions to
Hong Kong in the past, and would give no ground because it wants to
avoid setting a precedent for reform on the mainland, sources told
Reuters.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong's most prominent tycoon, Li Ka-shing, urged the protesters to go home.
Li, Asia's richest man and chairman of property developer
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd <0001.HK>, had made no public comment
on the protests but broke his silence to say if Hong Kong's rule of law
broke down it would be the city's "greatest sorrow".
"I urge everyone not to be agitated. I urge everyone not to let today's
passion become the regret for tomorrow. I earnestly request everyone to
return to their families," Li said.
(Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Dean Yates)
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