Hong Kong protests: tear gas fired on first day of Lunar New Year as crowd gathers to mark fourth anniversary of Mong Kok riot
- Passers-by seen fleeing from junction of Argyle Road and Portland Street after police launch crowd dispersal operation
Police fired tear gas on the first day of Lunar New Year in Hong Kong after a crowd gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of the Mong Kok riot in 2016.
Passers-by were seen fleeing from the junction of Argyle Road and Portland Street after police launched a crowd dispersal operation. Some found refuge at nearby shopping centre Langham Place where others helped them wash their eyes.
Just before 11pm, a group of black-clad protesters allegedly blocked Portland Street with rubbish and various objects, prompting riot officers to arrive at the scene.
Some protesters fled. A few were subdued and taken away. Police then fired tear gas as a crowd continued to gather and hurl abuse.
Street vendors, selling fish balls and deep-fried tofu, returned to Portland Street, a striking resemblance of what happened on the first night of the Lunar New Year in 2016, a disturbance sometimes referred to as the “fishball revolution”.
Four years ago on February 8, what started out as a dispute between street vendors and crowd control officers rapidly escalated into a full-blown night of vandalism and arson, as a crowd led by pro-independence group Hong Kong Indigenous clashed with police.
More than 90 people were charged with various offences from rioting to arson and possessing an offensive weapon.
Of them, about 60 were prosecuted while more than 27 were convicted in court, including localist activist Edward Leung Tin-kei, who was sentenced to six years in jail.
Police ban on rally marking Mong Kok riot anniversary upheld
Those ongoing protests have developed into a wider anti-government movement, focused on democratic reforms and police accountability, and have often plunged into violence, with police and radicals trading tear gas and petrol bombs.
In a statement released on Sunday, police said “masked rioters” built barricades and paralysed traffic in the Portland Street area of Mong Kok from about 10pm on Saturday, forcing officers to intervene.
“At around 11pm, when police were preparing to leave after law enforcement action, some rioters threw glass bottles and miscellaneous objects at a police vehicle,” the statement said.
“Police used a tear gas grenade to combat the violence of rioters,” the force said, adding police “always respect people’s freedom and rights to express their views peacefully”, but had to respond with minimal and necessary force to stop violence.
Additional reporting by Kimmy Chung
