Legco Evacuated Amid Ongoing Attack By Protesters

Violent and chaotic scenes that stretched out for hours on Monday forced the evacuation of the Legislative Council in the early evening, with council officials issuing a "red alert" for the first time ever.

The move came as extradition bill protesters used makeshift weapons, including a metal trolley, to repeatedly ram the glass exterior of the building.

Some of their attempts were successful, with the attacks leading to gaping holes in the entrances to the council complex.

But the building had already been flooded with police in riot gear, and the protesters did not make use of the gaps they created to storm in.

At one point, officers fired pepper spray from inside the building at the protesters outside, raising a red banner warning the crowd to stop charging at them.

But a report of tear gas being fired in the evening proved to be inaccurate, and in fact it was protesters who had thrown some kind of cannister inside the building.

The trouble first came at the entrance to the complex on Tim Mei Avenue at around 1.30pm. After a few hours, protesters had moved on to the Legco protest area.

A huge metal barrier was toppled, and the crowd used rods and fire extinguishers to strike the glass doors, as well as the building's walls.

At around 6.30pm, protesters began ripping down metal fences around Legco's demonstration area.

All this time, riot police were on standby inside the complex, although there were almost no direct clashes between them and the protesters.

Pro-Beijing lawmakers condemned the violence, with Legco president Andrew Leung saying that "serious damage" had been caused to the building.

But despite initially trying to prevent the violence, pro-democracy legislators were sympathetic towards the protesters, saying their action was due to the government ignoring their demands over the extradition bill.

"They have tried many times over the past two weeks, trying to escalate their action. But each time there was no response from the government," said Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung.

The annual July 1 march had been due to end in a rally outside the Legislative Council, but in light of the violence the end point was moved to Chater Road in Central.

Despite the change, young people were still encouraging marchers to head to Tamar to support the student protesters.

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