Chaotic scenes at busy Hong Kong mall as pepper spray used after protesters and plain-clothes police scuffle
- Police use pepper spray and deploy batons as protesters show up at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui
- Genki Sushi outlet targeted in Yoho mall, next to Yuen Long MTR station, after about 100 people had gathered to mark July 21 attack
There were chaotic scenes in a popular Hong Kong shopping centre on Saturday as protesters and police scuffled several times, with undercover officers using pepper spray and pulling out retractable batons, while at another mall at least two outlets were vandalised.
Around two dozen riot police entered Harbour City in the tourist district of Tsim Sha Tsui and carried out a sweep of the mall, teaming up with a group of undercover colleagues who had been stationed inside all afternoon as several hundred masked anti-government protesters roamed around during a so-called Christmas shopping rally.
Already high, tensions were ratcheted up as protesters, who had been in the mall for hours chanting slogans and focusing on shops seen as pro-government to scare away consumers, claimed a plain-clothes officer reached for his sidearm. A police commander later denied the incident took place.
Several scuffles had already broken out between protesters and a group of about 10 plain-clothes officers, who were quickly identified as police after they entered the mall.
In one instance, pepper spray was used as a mob tried to charge at police after they briefly detained a protester said to have threatened one of the officers.
A youngster who was pepper-sprayed said riot police rushed into the mall, urging everybody to leave. But he said they had no way to move away and riot police sprayed them anyway.
