Hong Kong police fire tear gas as anti-government protesters gather outside Sham Shui Po station, pointing laser beams and chanting ‘black cops’ and ‘return the eye’
- Protesters had gathered to burn traditional paper offerings to mark the Hungry Ghost Festival
- Participants started to point laser beams at police station and ignored warnings to stop
Hong Kong police fired tear gas at anti-government protesters who had gathered outside Sham Shui Po Police Station to pray for blessings in a celebration of the annual Hungry Ghost Festival on Wednesday night after they refused to stop aiming laser beams at the building and leave the area.
The event started at 8pm on Yen Chow Street outside the Dragon Centre shopping centre, which is near Sham Shui Po Police Station, one of the spots where protesters had clashed with officers on several occasions earlier this month.
A few dozen participants burned paper offerings to mark the festival, a traditional Taoist and Buddhist event that takes place on the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which fell on Wednesday this year.
Portraits of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and former Chinese premier Li Peng, who died recently aged 90, were printed on some of the “hell money” they burned.
Some participants soon started to point laser beams at the police station from a footbridge linking Dragon Centre with the other side of the road while chanting “black cops” and “return the eye”, referring to the severe eye injuries sustained by a female protester outside Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station on Sunday. Those activities quickly drew warnings from officers inside through an audio system at about 8.15pm.