turned chaotic<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>as police fired teargas, rubber bullets and sponge grenades, and charged protesters in a railway station. Thousands of demonstrators joined aviation workers at the airport for an 11-hour-sit-in on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\nThe former British colony is facing its most serious political crisis since it was returned to Chinese control in 1997. Under the terms of that agreement, the semi-autonomous region was meant to maintain a \u201chigh degree of autonomy\u201d through an independent judiciary, a free press and an open market economy, a framework known as: \u201cOne country, two systems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nSunday\u2019s protests marked the eighth consecutive weekend that Hongkongers have taken to the streets in protests that began over an extradition bill that would have allowed wanted suspects to be sent to mainland China.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the police fired continuous rounds of teargas into crowds on Sunday, some protesters fell to ground choking. One group sought refuge in a nearby apartment building when residents opened the gate, ushering them in. Demonstrators collapsed on the stairwell, some of them crying.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cEven though the protesters are peaceful, they keep throwing the teargas. I don\u2019t know why they keep throwing,\u201d said Hinton, 16, who had tears in his eyes after being gassed.<\/span><\/p>\nPolice said they used teargas to disperse protesters who were hurling bricks at them but protesters insisted police fired first. \u201cWe are trying to protect our own freedom. We are doing this for this place, our place. I\u2019ll be honest, I did throw things because I\u2019m that angry,\u201d said one protester, Angus, 24.<\/span><\/p>\nThe protesters were then pushed back to smaller roads in Sheung Wan, a normally busy neighbourhood turned into a ghost town after shops closed and residents were warned to stay inside. Tourists and residents ran from the scene, covering their eyes and mouths.<\/span><\/p>\nBefore midnight, the police had surrounded the protesters, shielding themselves with wooden boards and street signs. Teargas was lobbed at the protesters from all directions, shrouding the road and forcing the protesters to enter a mass transit station and leave.<\/span><\/p>\nSome protesters said the police appeared to escalating their tactics, with officers firing on protesters earlier and more frequently. \u201cI can\u2019t even count how many rounds of teargas they used,\u201d said Roy Chan, 39.<\/span><\/p>\nIn a statement, the government said protesters had pushed a cart of burning cardboard at police, \u201cthreatening the safety of police officers and members of public\u201d. The government said it would \u201ccontinue to give full support to police to strictly enforce the law to stop all violent behaviours\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\nPolice said 49 people had been arrested in relation to Sunday\u2019s protest, for suspected unlawful assembly and possession of offensive weapons.<\/span><\/p>\nOrganisers for Sunday\u2019s event had originally planned to march from central Hong Kong to Sheung Wan to condemn the police for firing teargas and rubber bullets on protesters last weekend. The police did not grant a permit for the march \u2013 the second time authorities have rejected a protest request \u2013 following a ban on the Saturday rally in Yuen Long.<\/span><\/p>\nProtesters fear authorities will adopt this line more in the future. On Sunday, one of the organisers of the Yuen Long rally, Max Chung, was arrested by police on suspicion of inciting an illegal assembly.<\/span><\/p>\nSome say the situation risks spiralling out of control as the public doubts the Hong Kong government\u2019s ability to govern and Beijing is likely to pressure Hong Kong authorities to take a harder line on protesters. As protesters continue to clash with police, people have only grown more frustrated, fuelling yet more demonstrations.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of public anger and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to go away soon,\u201d said James Yip, 27, part of the group of protesters leaving Sheung Wan. \u201cI think everyone is exhausted on both side, pro-government and pro-democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nExhaustion among protests appears to have set in as well. Amy Yeung, 26, has been attending as many protests as she can. \u201cI am mentally tired. Watching the news, you cry,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at least standing here, we are giving the message that we are not alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nOn Sunday, protesters said they were more angry than exhausted and would continue. Jonathan, 19, who was resting on a curb away from the frontline in between rounds of teargas, said: \u201cThey see us as a threat because we are having an impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nResidents have seen Beijing\u2019s influence over Hong Kong grow in recent years, as activists have been jailed and pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from running or holding office. Independent book sellers have disappeared from the city, to reappear in mainland China facing charges, a point critics of the extradition bill often make.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt seems to us that this is our last chance. If we don\u2019t do this now, we won\u2019t be able to later,\u201d said Eunice Chan, 55, who grew up in Hong Kong before it was returned to Chinese control in 1997.<\/span><\/p>\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fierce clashes in the former British colony as residents challenge Beijing\u2019s authority <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192336"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192340,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192336\/revisions\/192340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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