हांगकांग में क्रिसमस पर पुलिस और प्रदर्शनकारियों में झड़प

हांगकांग में क्रिसमस के त्योहार पर प्रदर्शनकारियों और पुलिस के बीच झड़प हुई. इस दौरान पुलिस ने इन्हें एक जगह से हटाने के लिए मिर्ची गैस और आंसू गैस के गोले का प्रयोग किया. पढ़ें पूरी खबर.

पुलिस और प्रदर्शनकारियों में झड़प

Published : Dec 25, 2019, 11:18 PM IST

हांगकांग : हांगकांग में पुलिस और लोकतंत्र समर्थक प्रदर्शनकारियों के बीच झड़पों का असर बुधवार को यहां क्रिसमस के त्योहार पर भी देखने को मिला. यहां की चीन समर्थक नेता ने कहा कि प्रदर्शनकारियों ने त्योहार के उत्साह को फीका कर दिया है.

प्रदर्शनकारियों ने मॉलों और शहर के कई जिलों में प्रदर्शन किए, उन्हें तितर-बितर करने के लिए पुलिस ने मिर्ची स्प्रे का इस्तेमाल किया और आंसू गैस के गोले छोड़े.

मोंग कोक में पुलिस ने भीड़ को तितर- बितर करने के लिए आंसू गैस के कई गोले छोड़े. इस इलाके में पिछले छह महीनों में अक्सर झड़पें देखने को मिली हैं.

स्थानीय टीवी पर प्रसारित खबरों के मुताबिक दो मॉलों में पुलिस की प्रदर्शनकारियों के साथ झड़पें हुई. कई युवा प्रदर्शनकारियों को हिरासत में ले लिया गया.

बुधवार को हुई झड़पें क्रिसमस की पूर्व संध्या पर हुई झड़पों की तुलना में कम देर तक चली.

पढ़ें : क्रिसमस के जश्न के लिए तैयार है ईसा मसीह का जन्म स्थान बेथलहम

हांगकांग की चीन समर्थक नेता केरी लाम ने क्रिसमस की पूर्व संध्या पर हुए प्रदर्शनों की बुधवार को फेसबुक पोस्ट में निंदा करते हुए उन्हें लापरवाह और स्वार्थी दंगाई कहा.

हांगकांग में ईसाई धर्म की अच्छी खासी आबादी है, लेकिन इस बार क्रिसमस का त्योहार फीका रहा.

पढ़ें : क्रिसमस के जश्न के लिए तैयार है ईसा मसीह का जन्म स्थान बेथलहम

ZCZC
PRI GEN INT
.HONGKONG FGN26
HONGKONG-LD PROTEST
Hong Kong marks Christmas Eve with mall clashes and tear gas
Hong Kong, Dec 24 (AFP) Hong Kong marked Christmas Eve with tear gas, petrol bombs and mall clashes on Tuesday night as battles between democracy activists and riot police swept through a major shopping district.
The evening's unrest was the most sustained in what has otherwise been a few weeks of comparative calm for a city upended by more than six months of violent protests.
Thousands of black-clad protesters -- some wearing Santa hats and reindeer antlers -- took to the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, a usually bustling tourist district.
Clashes soon erupted, with riot police firing multiple rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters throughout the evening, including outside the famous Peninsula Hotel. Rubber bullet casings were also seen on the ground.
Police said a "large group of rioters" had built barricades, damaged traffic lights and dug up bricks on the area's major thoroughfares and vandalised stores.
Some threw petrol bombs in one district, they added.
Meanwhile, flashmob rallies were held in multiple malls across the financial hub, with protesters chanting anti-government slogans.
In Harbour City, a luxury mall, police used pepper spray and batons when a group of plainclothes officers were discovered and surrounded, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The plainclothes officers made multiple arrests as the crowds threw objects and heckled them.
Riot police quickly arrived, with one aiming a shotgun at protesters as shops quickly shuttered.
Flashmob rallies formed in at least four other locations on Tuesday night, with riot police trying to disperse crowds shouting chants and heckling officers.
Footage posted on social media from a mall in Yuen Long district showed a man barging into a police officer and leaping one storey below in a bid to avoid arrest.
In a statement, police said officers were responding to reports that protesters were vandalising shops in the mall and that the man who fell was taken to hospital in a conscious state and arrested for assault.
Hong Kong's many malls have become regular protest venues as protesters try to cause economic disruption in their push for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Online forums have called for pop-up demonstrations over the Christmas and New Year period targeting shopping districts.
A former British colony with a sizeable Christian population, Hong Kong is having a distinctly muted Christmas this year.
Swathes of the population are seething against Beijing's rule and the semi-autonomous city's local government.
The months of protest have helped tipped a financial hub already battered by the trade war into recession and sparked intense political polarisation.
Christmas Eve is usually a major night for retailers and bars, with key districts pedestrianised.
But police said they would not close roads to traffic this year, fearing protesters might use the opportunity to gather.
Hong Kong's protests were initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland.
They have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule, with spiralling fears that the city is losing some of its unique liberties.
Local leader Carrie Lam eventually scrapped the extradition bill, but both she and Beijing have refused any further concessions.
Among the demands being made by protesters is an inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 6,000 people arrested and the right to elect Hong Kong's leader.
The fall-off in violence came after hundreds of hardcore protesters were arrested during a campus siege -- and after the pro-democracy camp won a landslide in local elections -- last month.
That has given city leaders and police some breathing room. But public anger remains palpable.
Allen Man, a 30-year-old carrying his son on his shoulders, was one of those around the Harbour City mall on Tuesday before the situation turned violent.
"We are here to enjoy the atmosphere but we're not going to buy anything," he told AFP. "We would like to tell the government that we are not giving up." Earlier this month, a huge crowd of some 800,000 people marched peacefully.
The same group behind that rally have applied for permission to hold a similar march on New Year's Day.
Nonetheless, Beijing has thrown is weight behind Lam and dismissed the movement's grievances. (AFP)
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