Violence spreads across Hong Kong New Territories on 24th weekend of unrest

Violence broke out on Sunday across the New Territories of Hong Kong on the 24th straight weekend of anti-government protests, with police firing tear gas to break up rallies as black-clad activists blocked roads and trashed shopping malls.

Protesters vandalised a train station in the central new town of Sha Tin and smashed up a restaurant perceived as being pro-Beijing, just two weeks before planned district council elections, the lowest tier of voting in the Chinese-ruled city.

Now TV showed pictures of a huge red welt on the upper arm of one of its reporters who said she had been hit by a tear gas canister in Tsuen Wan, to the west of the New Territories.

The rail station was closed in Sha Tin, amid scuffles between police and protesters young and old, on a day of planned shopping mall protests throughout the territory. Shopping districts across the harbour on the main island were quiet.

“Radical protesters have been gathering in multiple locations across the territories,” police said in a statement.