Hong Kong Police Use Tear as Protesters Throw Bricks, Petrol Bombs – Reports

The organisers of the protests canceled Saturday's demonstration in Hong Kong after the police had turned down the request for holding it. Despite this, hundreds of people took to the streets and paralysed several central districts in the city.

According to the RTHK broadcaster, some of the protesters threw bricks, petrol bombs and other objects into the government buildings, and the police had to react accordingly.

​Mass protests erupted in Hong Kong in early June in response to a controversial bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China. These demonstrations have often resulted in violent clashes between protesters and police.

Although the government eventually announced that it had suspended the bill, people continue to protest, demanding that it be withdrawn completely. Locals also require the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, retractions of the government’s classification of the violent clashes as riots, an independent inquiry into the police’s actions as well as the release of everyone arrested in the clashes with the police.

Earlier, the peaceful sit-in rally escalated into fierce clashes with police officers who were reportedly injured. Beijing condemned what it described as the violent actions of the protesters, calling them "near-terrorist acts".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the situation in Hong Kong amid recent massive protests the most serious since the region's return to China in 1997.