Hong Kong protesters plan major New Year’s Day rally after three days of Christmas chaos
- Three days of unrest come to an end with more than 310 people arrested
- Civil Human Rights Front organises event for January 1 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay
Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters on Thursday ended a third straight day of Christmas demonstrations and confrontations with police that led to more than 310 arrests in total, but vowed to return to the streets in force for a mass rally on January 1 to ring in the new year.
The government issued three sharply worded statements over a 24-hour period to reject accusations by Western media and activist groups of “police brutality” and “state repression”, after tear gas and pepper spray were used over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day to disperse protesters as radicals resorted to violence and vandalism during chaotic “shopping” rallies at malls across the city.
Riot police were out in force on Thursday, with officers spraying blue dye and subduing several protesters in Tai Po as groups also gathered in Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Tuen Mun.
Police said they had arrested more than 310 protesters between Tuesday and Thursday, 165 of them on Christmas Eve, including 105 near the force’s headquarters in Wan Chai, on suspicion of taking part in an illegal assembly.
A 19-year-old protester was injured after leaping over a railing from the first floor to the ground level of the Yoho shopping centre in Yuen Long to evade arrest that day.
