Tear Gas Fired Again In Wan Chai, Causeway Bay

Large groups of riot police made an aggressive push to pin down a gradually diminishing group of protesters in Causeway Bay on Sunday evening, in an apparent attempt to pin them down with multiple advances from different directions.

Many of the protesters had been pushed east very quickly after previous clashes in Admiralty.

While the black-shirt demonstrators set up makeshift barricades and multiple fires as they retreated, that did little to slow down large groups officers who pushed forward. A water cannon truck was deployed to put out the fires and help dismantle the barricades.

Separate squads of officers advanced from the east, and the protesters scrambled down side streets to try to get away.

Around 100 or so protesters decided to go on the offensive on Leighton Road by the Craigengower Cricket Club, banging sticks and poles on the ground as they marched towards a large group of fully equipped riot police, backed by vans.

However, that charge proved short-lived, as officers fired tear gas, and charged towards the demonstrators, scattering them in multiple directions.

At least one person was subdued and arrested in the same area shortly afterwards.

Protesters later re-emerged back on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai, where they again faced off against riot police. Many in the crowd were no longer in black, but it is unclear whether the protesters had simply changed their clothes.

Shortly after 8.30pm police retreated, getting into multiple vans and leaving the scene entirely, as protesters jeered and yelled abuse at them. But just as quickly as they left, more police arrived just 15 minutes later, firing tear gas on Hennessy Road and re-establishing a cordon.

But with a large group of people refusing to leave, officers again fired multiple bursts of tear gas at the intersection of Hennessy Road and Percival Street, pushing them back. Some people were caught in the tear gas without masks, and those nearby helped them flush their eyes with water.

As the night wore on, police repeated this process of leaving, then coming back, and the crowds eventually thinned out.

The MTR has suspended services to Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tin Hau stations because of the clashes.

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