Protesters form new blockades in Mong Kok after night of chaotic clashes with police
Twenty-six people arrested, including journalist, and more than 60 reportedly injured on both sides during chaos
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 18 October, 2014, 11:45am
UPDATED : Saturday, 18 October, 2014, 12:35pm
Eddie Lee and Danny Lee
A view from Argyle Street on Saturday, where protesters have formed a blockade. Photo: Danny Lee
Protesters fighting for Hong Kong democracy formed new barricades and set up other obstacles on Saturday as they re-occupied some streets in Mong Kok, where violent clashes overnight between crowds and officers led to the arrests of at least 26 people.
Police said as many as 9,000 people thronged and occupied major streets in Mong Kok overnight, as officers armed with riot gear used batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds.
Police were seen swinging their batons and using their shields to push back protesters in a bid to maintain police cordons. But by morning, pro-democracy demonstrators had claimed new protest zones.
Officers arrested dozens of people during the chaos, including Getty photographer Paula Bronstein, who was taken away after she jumped on a car to take pictures.
The 26 were arrested on suspicion of common assault, criminal damage, disorderly conduct in a public place, assaulting police officers, obstructing police officers and possession of offensive weapons, according to the police.
Authorities also said 15 officers were injured.
Police form a cordon on Argyle Street, facing off with protesters who have formed new barricades. Photo: Danny Lee
Meanwhile, a group of first-aid volunteers based on Shan Tung Street and Nathan Road said on Saturday that they treated at least 50 people for eye, head and other minor injuries caused by police pepper spray and baton charges last night.
Most of the injured were sent to the nearby Kwong Wah hospital, they said. Three people were sent by ambulance – two with head injuries and one with a dislocated shoulder.
Occupy first-aid volunteer Alex, 26, said: “The police were very aggressive and the protesters were very aggressive, and suffered in many conflicts.”
On Saturday, the occupied zone spanned a portion of Argyle Street, near the HSBC building, and a slice of Nathan Road that stretched from the Wai Fung Plaza to Dundas Street. Protesters fortified new defence lines.
Some Occupy supporters also deliberately dropped coins on the ground near the junction of Shanghai Street and Argyle Street in a bid to slow traffic.
As of 6am on Saturday, some Tai Kok Tsui-bound lanes of Argyle Street between Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Nathan Road were closed to all traffic, according to the Transport Department. Many bus routes have been diverted.
The chaos began shortly after 7.30pm on Friday when a protester attempted to remove a police barricade and tried to enter Nathan Road near Wai Fung Plaza. An officer standing guard failed to secure the barricade.
Police used pepper spray and batons to try and disperse the crowds last night. Some 9,000 people massed in Mong Kok, according to authorities. Photo: EPA
A red flag was raised, warning protesters not to charge. At the same time, a police inspector started swinging his baton, hitting the back of a yellow tent and the tops of umbrellas that protesters were using to shield themselves.
At one point, protesters started removing barricades set up near Wai Fung Plaza, trying to break through to the northbound lane of Nathan Road. Police officers quickly pushed them back and used pepper spray to stop them.
For the first time since the Occupy Central action started, the police’s Public Relations Bureau gave a crowd estimate, saying at around 2.30am that 9,000 protesters were illegally occupying Mong Kok streets.
They did not say if this was at the peak of the protests or how they came up with the number. Earlier reports from the scene estimated there were more than a thousand protesters.
Police also issued a statement condemning protesters’ repeated charges at police cordons and attempts to occupy the north-bound lane of Nathan Road, the 3.6-kilometre-long main artery across Kowloon.
Protester Michael Cheng, who refused to have a photograph taken of his face, shows apparent injuries to his head (left) and blood stains on his towel (right). Photos: Danny Lee
Michael Cheng, 23, said he sustained a head injury after being struck with a baton on Sai Yeung Choi Street South. He showed the Post what appeared to be blood stains on his shorts and towel.
"I and the police was separated by barriers, but the police just hit me. I pulled back and I felt my head was wet and then it [got] really painful," said Cheng, who declined hospital treatment.
Meanwhile, the arrest of Bronstein, an American freelance photographer based in Bangkok, was condemned by the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong.
"No one wants to give you any trouble," a police officer had said to Bronstein, who has worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, and was a finalist for a 2011 Pulitzer Prize. "I don't know the situation, how you ended up on the car, but ... the owner is pissed about his car."
The FCC said police - in one case with batons - had threatened other reporters who were covering the clashes.
"These tactics are a flagrant violation of the media's right to report this unfolding story," the statement said. "We demand the immediate release of Ms Bronstein and an end to such intimidation." Bronstein was reportedly released on bail this morning.
A University of Science and Technology graduate, surnamed Kwan, said he came to support Occupy Mong Kok after organisers said protesters there needed help. “If Mong Kok falls, Admiralty would be next,” he said.
Another protester, a mainland student from Polytechnic University, said he came out last night to support Hong Kong students’ fight for democracy.
“Hong Kong students are very brave to express their views. It’s different on the mainland. People here are so hot-blooded,” said the student, who gave his surname as Du.
Pro-democracy protesters are seen celebrating after the Hong Kong police lost control of Mong Kok. Photo: EPA
The trouble in Mong Kok flared after officials said on Friday that they were looking for a way to secure a meeting – tentatively set for Tuesday at the Academy of Medicine in Aberdeen – between Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-Ngor and representatives of the Federation of Students.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has insisted the dialogue be based on the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s decision on the 2017 chief executive election that ruled out public nomination – which is essential to the protesters’ demands.
A source said yesterday the government was looking for ways to address the demands of students while maintaining the integrity of the NPC decision.
The Occupy Central civil disobedience movement had kicked off at dawn of September 28, following a week-long class boycott by students – all to protest against mainland China’s restrictive framework on election reform which essentially barred pan-democratic candidates to run in the 2017 chief executive race.
With additional reporting from Lana Lam
