HONG KONG: A Hong Kong police officer shot at masked protesters on Monday morning, hitting at least two, as anger sparked by the recent death of a student spilled into the rush hour commute.
The shooting, which was broadcast live on Facebook, is the latest escalation in more than five months of seething pro-democracy protests that have engulfed the international financial hub and battered its reputation.
Footage showed a police officer drawing his sidearm in the district of Sai Wan Ho as he tried to detain a masked person at a junction that had been blocked by protesters.
Another masked individual then approached the officer and was shot in the chest area, quickly falling to the ground, clutching their left side.
Seconds later, two more live rounds were fired by the officer during a scuffle and another masked protester went to ground.
Police then detained the two people on the ground.
A pool of blood could be seen near the first individual whose body initially appeared limp, although the person was later filmed conscious and even trying to make a run for it.
The second man was conscious, shouting his name to reporters as he was handcuffed.
Police confirmed an officer had shot two protesters on Monday, saying they were conscious as they were taken to the hospital.
One protester who was shot with a live round Monday morning is in critical condition, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing an unidentified medical source. The protester was sent to Eastern Hospital. A Hospital Authority spokesman couldn’t immediately confirm the condition of the injured person when reached by Bloomberg News.
Hospital authorities earlier said three people were admitted from the incident, one with a gunshot wound.
Warning: This video shows police officer shooting protestor at close range
- Commuter chaos -
Calls to “paralyse Central” gained traction on social media forums favoured by protesters, as efforts to organise a general strike shifted toward the city’s core financial area. Postings circulated on the messaging app Telegram called for flash mob-style rallies to begin around noon on Monday.
Most of Hong Kong’s major universities announced they were suspending classes on Monday amid widespread protests and violence. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Shue Yan University said they were cancelling classes today. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and the Education University of Hong Kong also stopped classes today, according to local media reports.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it was cancelling classes after many sites on campus were hit by “mass-scale malicious vandalism” on Friday. Chow Tsz-lok, the student who died after suffering a brain injury following his fall last week, had attended the university.
The city’s rail operator MTR Corp. said it had shut the Whampoa, Kwai Fong and Tung Chung subway stations amid widespread vandalism and disruptions. The company also said it had suspended some service on the West Rail Line and the Ma On Shan line.
Hong Kong has been upended by 24 consecutive weeks of huge and increasingly violent rallies, but Beijing has refused to give in to a movement calling for greater democratic rights and police accountability.
Tensions have soared in recent days following the death on Friday of a 22-year-old student who succumbed to injuries sustained from a fall in the vicinity of a police clearance operation the weekend before.
The city has seen four days of violent protests since Alex Chow's death as well as tens of thousands attending peaceful mass vigils.
Using online messaging forums, activists had called for a general strike on Monday morning.
Flashmob protests sprung up in multiple districts during the commuter period, with small groups of masked protesters targeting subway stations and building barricades on road junctions.
Even before the shooting in Sai Wan Ho, tear gas had been fired in at least two other locations.
One video circulated by protesters on messaging channels from Kwai Fong district showed a police officer trying to drive his motorbike multiple times into protesters who had gathered on a road.
- Unpopular police force -
Monday's shooting is the third time protesters have been shot with live rounds by police. The two previous instances last month came as protesters attacked police officers and the victims, both teenagers, survived their wounds.
With no political solution on the table, officers have been left to battle violent protesters and are now loathed by large chunks of the deeply polarised population.
Immediately after Monday's shooting, crowds of locals gathered to hurl insults at officers who responded with pepper spray and made multiple arrests.
Police have defended their tactics as a proportionate response to protesters who have embraced throwing bricks and petrol bombs as well as vandalising pro-China businesses and beating opponents.
But an independent inquiry into the police has become a core demand of the protest movement, with public anger fuelled by weekly videos of controversial police tactics and aggressive interactions with locals.
In one incident which sparked uproar, a police officer on Friday evening shouting at protesters that he and his colleagues were "opening a bottle of champagne" after the death of the student.
The force said the officer was later reprimanded for his language.
Both Beijing and Hong Kong's unelected leader Carrie Lam have rejected an independent inquiry, saying the city's current police watchdog is up to the task.
But last week, in an embarrassing setback, an international panel of experts appointed by authorities to advise the watchdog said it did not currently have the capability or resources to carry out such a huge probe.