Sense of unease hangs over Hong Kong as protesters prepare for anti-government rally near site of violent clashes between radicals and police
- Demonstrators block roads in Prince Edward and close exits of MTR station hours after peaceful rally in Central
- Police fire pepper balls and woman suffers eye injury in late night stand-off
Tension returned to Hong Kong’s streets on Saturday night as the fragile peace of the past two weeks wavered, a day before a major anti-government rally is expected to take place near the site of recent violent clashes between radicals and police.
Around 200 protesters blocked roads twice in three hours, forcibly closed one exit to Prince Edward MTR station and set fire to the entrance of Mong Kok MTR station, while police fired pepper balls after a foreign journalist tried to take a picture from the middle of the street.
A woman was treated for an eye injury, but the cause of it was not immediately clear. Later police fired at least one round of tear gas in Argyle Street.
Earlier, around 1,000 students and elderly gathered in Central for a peaceful rally, although it remains uncertain if the march in Kowloon will be just as uneventful.
Themed “not to forget why we started”, the rally will run from 3pm to 6pm, and is the biggest of three gatherings happening on Sunday.