Violence brings Hong Kong to 'brink of total breakdown': police

Hong Kong police fired tear gas in the heart of the Central financial district and at two university campuses to break up pro-democracy protests as violence was bringing the Chinese-ruled city to what they said was the “brink of total breakdown”.

The clashes came a day after police shot a protester at close range and a man was doused with petrol and set on fire in some of the worst violence in the former British colony in decades.

A flash mob of more than 1,000 protesters, many wearing office clothes and face masks, rallied in Central for a second day during lunch hour, blocking roads below some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers and most expensive real estate.

After they had dispersed, police fired tear gas at the remaining protesters on old, narrow Pedder Street. Police made more than a dozen arrests, many pinned up on the pavement against the wall of luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.

Police vans surged into the area, and officers took up positions in a standoff with protesters just an hour or so before office workers were due to start leaving for home.

“Our society has been pushed to the brink of a total breakdown,” a police spokesman told a briefing, referring to the last two days of violence.

He said the man set on fire on Monday was still in critical condition and appealed for information on who was responsible.

Police on Monday fired volley after volley of tear gas in Central, where some protesters blocked streets lined with banks and jewelry shops. Most had pulled down their shutters on Tuesday.

Tension eased as the lunch hour ended, but some protesters used a double-decker airport bus to block a key road running alongside the newly reclaimed area of the harbor close to downtown Central.

Police also fired tear gas at City University in Kowloon Tong, beneath the Lion Rock, and at Chinese University on the other side of the mountain, where protesters threw petrol bombs and bricks at police.

Protesters at City University have stockpiled bricks and petrol bombs on the bridges and other approaches and were making small devices with nails, apparently to puncture tires.

Streets inside and outside the Chinese University campus entrance were littered with bricks, other debris and small street fires as police tackled some protesters to the ground.

A van used as part of a street barricade was set ablaze.

(REUTERS)