Hong Kong’s Monday of mayhem
For most of the 24 weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the city has seethed on weekends but returned to something resembling normalcy on weekdays. Only twice have there been significant exceptions to that — a general strike on Wednesday, June 12, and further strikes and an occupation of the airport for days in early August. Today was the third exception, as a protester was shot and critically injured by what appeared to be a traffic cop at about 7:15 a.m., according to the Hong Kong Free Press. Later in the day, a man was “set alight following a heated argument” with demonstrators, and was admitted to a nearby hospital with severe burns, AFP reports.
Photo credit: The China Project illustration
For most of the 24 weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the city has seethed on weekends but returned to something resembling normalcy on weekdays. Only twice have there been significant exceptions to that — a general strike on Wednesday, June 12, and further strikes and an occupation of the airport for days in early August. Today was the third exception, as a protester was shot and critically injured by what appeared to be a traffic cop at about 7:15 a.m., according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
Later in the day, a man was “set alight following a heated argument” with demonstrators, and was admitted to a nearby hospital with severe burns, AFP reports. The South China Morning Post has more on the status of the two injured persons, and other details on what it calls the day’s “unprecedented working-hours mayhem”:
The shooting victim, a 21-year-old vocational student surnamed Chow, had a kidney and part of his liver removed to retrieve the bullet and was reportedly in critical condition, while 57-year-old construction worker Leung Chi-cheung was fighting for his life on Monday evening after suffering second-degree burns to his chest and arms, as well as head trauma…
In unprecedented working-hours mayhem as the city entered its 24th straight week of unrest, police fired tear gas in at least 12 locations…On at least three tertiary campuses, at Hong Kong, Chinese and Polytechnic universities, stand-offs led to the firings of rounds of tear gas early in the morning…
At PolyU, protesters went on a wrecking spree…all to vent their anger at the mysterious death of a fellow student last Friday. Chow Tsz-lok [周梓樂 Zhōu Zǐlè], a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology undergraduate and a known protester, died days after he fell from a car park near the site of a police dispersal operation, sustaining a severe brain injury…
On Monday, all 11 universities canceled classes, with 10 remaining closed on Tuesday to repair major damage to facilities wrought by protesters.
See also the latest updates from the Hong Kong Free Press: Hong Kong police fire live rounds and tear gas as protesters disrupt morning traffic in citywide ‘general strike’ bid.
