HONG KONG — Hong Kong police blasted pro-democracy protesters with tear gas and used vans with flashing lights in renewed efforts overnight to force demonstrators from streets near the government headquarters, as the city’s top leader early Monday urged them to go home.
Hong Kong’s top leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, reassured the public that rumors that the Chinese army might intervene were untrue.
“I hope the public will keep calm. Don’t be misled by the rumors. Police will strive to maintain social order, including ensuring smooth traffic and ensuring the public safety,” said the Beijing-backed Leung, who is deeply unpopular. He added, “When they carry out their duties, they will use their maximum discretion.”
As sit-ins spread to other areas of Hong Kong in a strongest challenge to Beijing’s decision to limit democratic reforms for the semi-autonomous city, Leung urged everyone to go home and avoid causing trouble.
“We don’t want Hong Kong to be messy,” Leung said as he read a statement aloud early Monday on TV.
After spending hours holding protesters at bay, police lobbed canisters of tear gas into the crowd Sunday evening. The fumes sent demonstrators fleeing, though many came right back. The government said 26 people were taken to hospitals, some carried away on stretchers.
As the protest dragged past midnight, police began pushing the crowds back with their vans. Meanwhile, some protesters began occupying other downtown areas.
More than 200 bus routes were canceled or diverted in a city dependent on public transport. Subway exits were also closed or blocked near protest areas. Authorities said some schools in the areas near the main protest site had been closed.
Some protesters pulled back, fearing police might move more aggressively to end the protests, which began with sit-ins over a week earlier by students calling for Beijing to grant genuine democratic reforms to the former British colony.
“It was very cruel for the police to use such harsh violence on protesters who had been completely peaceful,” said demonstrator Cecily Lui, a 30-year-old clerk.
The pastor at a church up the road from the biggest protests said he was keeping his church open and was “prepared for the worst,” with doctors and nurses standing by.
“We will be open all night,” said the Rev. Francis Lau. “One man, he felt very sorry about what happened today, he leant on my shoulder and cried.”
Why are they protesting?
When China took control of Hong Kong in 1997, it agreed to a policy of “one country, two systems” that allowed the city a high degree of control over its own affairs. It also promised that the city’s leader would eventually be chosen through “universal suffrage.”
Recent moves by China to tighten its grip on the territory have brought on vehement protests, which are highlighting authorities’ inability to assuage public discontent over Beijing’s rejection last month of open nominations for candidates under proposed guidelines for the first-ever elections for Hong Kong’s leader, promised for 2017.
Beijing’s insistence on using a committee to screen candidates on the basis of their patriotism to China has stoked fears among pro-democracy groups that Hong Kong will never get genuine democracy.
