Bullet strikes man in the neck as police battle with angry protesters during march against labour woes
Police fired shots in the air and beat protesters back with batons yesterday as a Labour Day march in Macau by thousands of workers erupted in violence.
Incensed by a lack of jobs and low pay while mainland labour floods in to drive Macau's casino boom - and accusing the government of corruption - the protesters mounted the most direct challenge yet to Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah, calling on him to step down.
The worst scuffles broke out after a police officer fired five warning shots at a crossroads near a funeral home where the chief executive's family was mourning his elder brother, Ho Hau-chio.
A man in his 50s was struck by a bullet as he was riding with his son on a motorcycle about 300 metres away and police said last night they were investigating whether the bullet was one of those fired by the officer.
The wife of the injured man, who identified herself as Mrs Leung, was riding another motorcycle behind her husband when he suddenly stopped and she found him bleeding heavily from the neck. 'He was bleeding so heavily that my hands were full of blood,' she said.