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New phase as protesters and police clash across Hong Kong in guerilla-style battles
- Officers use tear gas to disperse crowds that once more gathered for illegal rallies, but scale and intensity of skirmishes appears to have lessened
- Two sides engage in running battles from Kwun Tong to Tai Po and Cross-Harbour Tunnel, while peaceful sit-in at the airport continues
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Months of social unrest in Hong Kong moved into a new phase on Saturday, with both anti-government protesters and police using fresh strategies.
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Police again used tear gas, and petrol bombs were thrown by demonstrators, who once more had gathered illegally across the city in defiance of protest bans by the authorities. But the scale and intensity of the clashes appeared to have lessened, and there was also a change in how the two sides engaged.
It came after a week when Beijing and the Hong Kong government stepped up support for the city’s embattled police force while officers clamped down on those deemed sympathetic to protesters.
Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, on Saturday fired two airport employees for leaking police officers’ passenger information to protesters and removed a pilot from flying duties after he was charged with rioting.
The airline took the action in response to unprecedented measures imposed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) that barred aircrew who joined or supported illegal protests from operating flights going through Chinese airspace.
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